a 


A/3. 

PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


Third  National  Conference 


FOR 


GOOD  CITY  GOVERNMENT 


AND    OF   THE 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MEETING 


OF  THE 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 


HELD  AT  BALTIMORE 


6,   7  -A.iTID   8,   1896 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 
1896 


COMMITTEE  ON  PUBLICATION. 


GEORGE  GLUYAS  MERCER,  Philadelphia. 

REV.  CHARLES  F.  DOLE,  Boston. 

C.  A.  HAVILAND,  Brooklyn. 

HON.  JAMES  NEILSON,  New  Brunswick. 

J.  ALPHEUS  VANSANT,  Camden, 

Z.  F.  SMITH,  Pittsburg. 

HENRY  P.  GODDARD,  Baltimore. 

CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF,  Philadelphia, 

Chairman  and  Editor. 


•  ILHUMt 0  MmTlM  COUPMV 
PntlAMLPMIA 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  Baltimore  Conference  for  Good  City  Govern- 
ment, held  in  May,  under  the  auspices  of  the  National 
Municipal  League,  brought  out  and  emphasized  three 
noteworthy  facts.  In  the  first  place,  there  was  a  recog- 
nition on  the  part  of  nearly  all  the  speakers  of  civil 
service  reform  as  a  pre-requisite  to  municipal  reform. 
President  Carter's  annual  address  dwelt  upon  this  point, 
and  the  paper  of  Merritt  Starr  on  "  Chicago  Since  the 
Adoption  of  Municipal  Civil  Service  Reform "  showed 
conclusively  that  the  introduction  of  the  merit  system 
results  in  securing  a  large  measure  of  good  govern- 
ment. The  statement  of  President  Carter  that,  when 
civil  service  reform  is  installed  in  our  cities,  "  not  only 
do  we  secure  a  faithful  man  for  the  office,  but  we  get 
rid  of  a  man  who  was  known  before  not  to  serve  faith- 
fully but  to  prostitute  the  office  to  a  ward  boss,"  was 
illustrated  by  the  experience  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  as 
related  by  Mr.  George  A.  Denison,  of  the  Springfield 
Republican. 

The  second  point  was  that  good  city  government  is 
dependent  not  so  much  upon  good  laws  and  good  charters 
as  upon  good  men.  One  paper,  for  instance,  showed 
that  some  cities  had  had  poor  results  with  bicameral 
legislatures,  while  others  reported  equally  bad  results 

(iii) 


INTRODUCTION. 


with  single  chambers.  Some  advocated  the  distribution 
of  power  and  responsibility  among  commissions  and 
councils ;  others,  the  concentration  of  them  in  a  single 
executive  head.  All,  however,  agreed  that  the  evils  of 
bad  laws  and  charters  were  greatly  mitigated  when 
good  men  occupied  the  offices. 

In  the  third  place  the  papers  on  the  municipal  con- 
ditions of  leading  Southern  cities  brought  out  what  had 
not  heretofore  been  realized,  the  great  need  for  municipal 
reform  in  our  Southern  cities.  Theretofore  the  general 
impression  had  been  that  outside  of  one  or  two  of  the 
larger  Southern  cities  municipal  corruption  and  ineffi- 
ciency were  of  Northern  origin  and  growth.  This  notion, 
however,  was  completely  dispelled  by  the  showing  made 
at  the  Baltimore  Conference. 

The  League,  in  its  annual  conferences  and  meetings, 
does  not  pass  resolutions  embodying  its  views  upon 
questions  relating  to  municipal  government  and  its  re- 
form, preferring  to  leave  to  each  speaker  a  free  platform 
for  statements  of  the  facts  of  the  case  and  his  arguments 
from  them.  The  essential  idea  of  the  Conference  is  to 
promote  the  free  and  full  discussion  of  the  difficult  prob- 
lem of  municipal  government,  wisely  avoiding  any  ex- 
cathedra  utterances  concerning  questions  upon  which  the 
best  minds  may,  perhaps,  differ. 

The  Proceedings  of  the  Baltimore  Conference  will 
prove  particularly  valuable,  not  only  because  they  bring 
out  the  points  already  mentioned,  but  because  they  dis- 


INTRODUCTION.  V 


cuss  the  important  subjects  of  the  control  and  ownership 
of  municipal  franchises,  and  the  relation  of  corporations 
enjoying  such  franchises  to  the  municipality.  The  time 
is  rapidly  approaching  when  these  questions  will  be  the 
all-absorbing  ones  in  most  of  our  municipalities.  For 
this  reason  the  papers  read  at  the  Baltimore  Conference 
will  be  found  both  useful  and  timely. 

The  reception  of  the  first  two  volumes  of  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  former  Conferences  justifies  the  continued 
publication  of  the  papers  and  discussions.  Increasing  use 
is  made  of  them  in  the  class-room  and  by  editors  and 
authors,  as  well  as  by  those  seeking  to  improve  the 
present  conditions  of  American  cities.  If  the  League 
did  no  other  work  during  the  year  than  to  publish  this 
volume,  it  would  not  have  labored  in  vain.  Already  the 
edition  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Philadelphia  Confer- 
ence is  exhausted,  and  it  will  not  be  long  before  the 
edition  of  the  second  volume  will  also  be  exhausted.  In 
view  of  this,  a  larger  edition  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Baltimore  Conference  has  been  published  to  meet  what 
we  feel  to  be  a  growing  demand  for  the  precise,  accurate 
and  candid  discussion  of  what  may,  perhaps,  be  des- 
ignated as  the  most  important  question  before  the 
American  people.  No  branch  of  the  government  comes 
more  closely  home  to  individual  citizens,  hence  the  ne- 
cessity of  immediate  steps  to  rectify  the  prevailing 
inefficiency  and,  in  many  instances,  corruption  existing 
among  those  who  are  charged  with  its  administration. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  BALTIMORE  CONFERENCE i 

MINUTES  OF  SECOND  ANNUAL  MEETING,  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL 

LEAGUE 33 

PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS,  James  C.  Carter  ........  41 

A  YEAR'S  WORK  FOR  MUNICIPAL    REFORM,    Clinton   Rogers 

Woodruff 62 

THE  RECENT  REVOLT  IN  BALTIMORE  :  ITS  RESULTS  AND  LESSONS, 

Charles  Morris  Howard 75 

MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF  RICHMOND,  VA.,  Virginius  Newton  .  .  88 

MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF  ATLANTA,  GA.,  A.  H.  Davis   ....  96 

MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF  NASHVILLE,  TENN.,  A.  V.  S.  Lindsley  102 

MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF  MEMPHIS,  TENN.,  James  H.  Malone  .  no 

MUNICIPAL  REFORM  IN  GEORGIA,  Col.  Arthur  Dasher 117 

MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF  SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.,  George  A.  Den- 

ison 128 

MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF  ALBANY,  Hon.  John  Boyd  Thacher   .  137 

MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF  PITTSBURG,  George  W.  Guthrie  ...  146 

CHICAGO  SINCE  THE  ADOPTION  OF  MUNICIPAL  CIVIL  SERVICE  RE- 
FORM, Merritt  Starr 162 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  OHIO  STATE  BOARD  OF  COMMERCE,  Thomas 

L.  Johnson 192 

MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  OF  STREET  RAILWAYS,  Charles  Richardson  198 

MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP,  Frank  M.  Loomis 207 

(vii) 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


hAGE 

PUBLIC  CONTROL  OF  MUNICIPAL   FRANCHISES,  Hon.  Hazen  S. 

Pingree 216 

THE  RELATION  OF  A  MUNICIPALITY  TO    QUASI-PUBLIC    CORPO- 
RATIONS ENJOYING  MUNICIPAL  FRANCHISES,  Wm.  M.  Sailer  219 

STATE  BOARDS  OF  MUNICIPAL  CONTROL,  Hon.  Frederick  William 

Holls 226 

REFORM  OF  OUR  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS,  Henry  W.  Williams  .    .  236 

SHALL  WE  HAVE  ONE  OR  Two  LEGISLATIVE  CHAMBERS  ?  Samuel 

B.  Capen 247 

A  SINGLE  OR  A  DOUBLE  COUNCIL?  John  A.  Butler  ......  252 

SHOULD  MUNICIPAL  LEGISLATORS  RECEIVE  A  SALARY  ?  James  W. 

Pryor 263 

THE  NECESSITY  OF  EXCLUDING  POLITICS  FROM  MUNICIPAL  BUSI- 
NESS, Col.  George  E.  Waring «  267 

A  CHRISTIAN  CITIZENSHIP  LEAGUE,  Rev.  Albert  G.  Lawson,  D.D.  275 

BANQUET  SPEECHES 282 

INDEX 307 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF  THE 
FOURTH 

National  Conference  for  Good  City  Government, 

HELD   IN 

BALTIMORE, 

Under  the  Auspices  of  the 

%   NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE, 

May  6,  7  and  8,   1896. 


Wednesday,  May  6,  f8p6,  j  P.  M. 

The  first  session  of  the  Fourth  National  Conference  for  Good  City 
Government  was  called  to  order  in  the  Assembly  Room  of  the  Music  Hall, 
at  the  corner  of  Mount  Royal  Avenue  and  Cathedral  Street,  by  Charles  J. 
Bonaparte,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore. 

MR.  BONAPARTE  :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : — The  first  item  on  the 
programme,  as  originally  prepared,  was  an  address  of  welcome,  the  ad- 
dressor  being  left  to  the  imagination.  The  Revisory  Committee  improved 
on  that  by  also  leaving  the  address  of  welcome  to  the  imagination  of  the 
delegates,  which,  we  trust,  will  be  sufficiently  lively,  relying  on  the  ladies 
of  the  Arundell  Club  to  supply  any  deficiency  this  afternoon.  (Laughter 
and  applause).  I  have,  therefore,  merely  to  leave  unsaid  the  pleasure 
which  is  felt  by  those  who  may,  more  or  less,  unworthily  claim  to  represent 
Baltimore,  in  seeing  the  meeting  of  the  National  Municipal  League  here. 
Before  giving  place  to  one  more  worthy,  I  desire  to  read  two  announce- 
ments— one  that  the  Arundell  Club,  216  West  Madison  Street,  cordially 
extends  its  privileges  to  the  ladies  connected  with  the  Conference,  whether 
as  delegates  or  otherwise ;  and  secondly,  that  the  University  Club  extends 
the  like  privilege  to  the  gentlemen  attending  the  Conference,  and  I  have 

(0 


BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 


no  doubt  would  have  been  happy  to  do  so  as  far  as  the  ladies  are  con- 
cerned, if  they  had  ventured.  (Laughter). 

I  now  announce  the  opening  of  the  Conference,  and  request  Mr. 
James  C.  Carter,  the  President  of  the  National  Municipal  League,  to  take 
the  Chair.  (Applause). 

MR.  CARTER  :  Mr.  Bonaparte,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : — On  behalf  of 
the  National  Municipal  League  I  beg  to  extend,  through  Mr.  Bonaparte,  to 
the  people  of  Baltimore,  especially  to  those  who  are  interested  in  the  cause 
for  which  we  are  assembled  here,  acknowledgments  for  the  welcome  which 
has  been  extended.  He  has  said  that  both  the  welcome  and  the  speaker 
have  been  omitted  from  the  programme,  and,  therefore,  we  must  leave 
that  welcome  to  the  imagination.  I  can  assure  him  I  think  on  behalf  of 
all  of  you  that  we  can  all  very  well  imagine  the  welcome  which  will  be  ex- 
tended to  us  by  a  people  so  distinguished  for  their  hospitality  as  those  of 
Baltimore ;  and  thanking  him,  at  the  same  time,  for  the  invitations  which 
have  been  received  from  the  Arundell  Club  and  the  University  Club.  The 
Conference  is  now  open  for  business,  and  the  first  paper  in  order  will  be 
that  from  the  Secretary  of  the  League,  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff,  Esq.,  on 
"A  Year's  Work  for  Municipal  Reform." 

Mr.  Woodruff  then  read  a  paper  on  "  A  Year's  Work  for  Municipal 
Reform."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  The  next  paper  will  be  read  by  Charles  Morris 
.Howard,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  the  Baltimore  Reform  League,  on  "The  Recent 
Revolt  in  Baltimore:  Its  Results,  Its  Lessons." 

Mr.  Howard  then  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Recent  Revolt  in  Baltimore : 
Its  Results,  Its  Lessons."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  The  next  paper  will  be  read  by  Merritt  Starr,  Esq., 
on  "Chicago  since  the  Adoption  of  Civil  Service  Reform." 

Mr.  Starr  then  read  a  paper  on  "  Chicago  since  the  Adoption  of  Civil 
Service  Reform."  (See  Appendix}. 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  The  next  paper  is  entitled  "  The  Work  of  the  Ohio 
Chamber  of  Commerce,"  by  Thomas  L.  Johnson,  Esq.  Mr.  Johnson  has 
not  yet  reached  here ;  but  he  has  sent  his  paper. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  I  move  that  the  paper  of  Mr.  Johnson  be  received 
and  printed  as  part  of  the  proceedings. 

This  motion  was  duly  seconded,  and  on  the  question  being  put  it  was 
decided  in  the  affirmative. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  Before  adjournment  I  desire  to  announce  that  a 
registry  for  delegates  has  been  provided  at  the  headquarters  in  the  Hotel 
Stafford.  There  will  be  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Delegates  for  the  trans- 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


action  of  such  business  as  may  come  before  it,  including  the  election  of 
officers,  in  this  Hall  to-morrow  at  9.30  A.  M.  All  duly  accredited  delegates 
are  entitled  to  seats  in  that  meeting,  and  are  entitled  to  vote.  The  Confer- 
ence, to  which  all,  whether  delegates  or  not,  are  invited,  will  begin  at 
10.15  A.  M.  There  will  be  a  meeting  this  evening  in  this  Hall,  at  which 
the  Annual  Address  of  the  President  will  be  delivered.  That  meeting, 
at  eight  o'clock,  will  be  open  to  all.  You  are  requested  to  be  present 
and  to  bring  with  you  all  your  friends  interested  in  the  cause  of  good  city 
government. 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  This  being  the  close  of  the  programme  for  the 
afternoon  the  Convention  will  now  adjourn  until  to-morrow  morning  at 
10.15  A.  M. 

The  Conference  thereupon  adjourned. 


Wednesday,  May  6,  1896,  8  P.  M. 

The  delegates  and  citizens  of  Baltimore  assembled  at  8  P.  M.  to  listen 
to  the  Annual  Address  of  the  President,  James  C.  Carter,  Esq.,  of  New 
York,  who  was  introduced  by  Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  Esq. 

MR.  BONAPARTE  :  This  gathering  indicates  in  some  degree  the  wel- 
come, which  I  am  sure  the  people  of  Baltimore  are  disposed  to  give  to  this 
assembly  of  the  National  Municipal  League  ;  to  show  the  interest  which  we 
feel  in  the  subjects  which  are  to  be  discussed.  We  hope  and  believe  that 
we  will  derive  profit  from  the  discussion.  The  exercises  of  the  League 
will  go  on  as  usual  to-morrow.  To-night  is  devoted  to  the  Annual  Address 
of  the  President  of  the  League,  a  gentleman  whom  we  all  know  by  reputa- 
tion, which,  although  it  is  flattering,  is  none  the  less  true.  It  is  a  very  great 
pleasure  to  us — I  am  sure  I  speak  for  all — to  see  him  and  to  hear  his  voice. 
I  have  the  honor  to  present  Mr.  James  C.  Carter,  of  New  York.  (Great 
applause). 

The  President  then  delivered  his  Annual  Address.     (See  Appendix). 

MR.  BONAPARTE  :  Allow  me  to  profit  by  the  audience,  which  has  been 
gathered  together  to  hear  Mr.  Carter,  to  give  you  some  useful  information, 
not  on  any  particular  hobby  of  my  own,  but  as  to  the  future  exercises  of 
the  National  Municipal  League.  The  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Delegates 
will  be  held  to-morrow  at  9.30  A.  M.,  very  punctually.  All  delegates  are 
requested  to  come  as  promptly  as  possible  at  the  hour  mentioned  to  illus- 
rate  the  old  adage  that  punctuality  is  a  virtue  of  kings  and  the  undoubted 
truth  that  every  American  citizen  is  a  sovereign. 

The  morning  Conference  will  commence  at  a  quarter  past  ten  and  the 


BALTIMORE    CONFERENCE 


afternoon  Conference  at  2.30  P.  M.     There  will  be  a  lunch  intermediately. 
All  persons  interested  in  the  work  of  good  government  are  invited  to  at- 
tend these  Conferences,  and,  provided  that  they  attend  the  Conferences, 
also  to  the  lunch.     (Laughter  and  applause). 
The  meeting  now  stands  adjourned. 


Thursday,  May  7,  1896,  10.15  A.  M. 

President  Carter  in  the  Chair. 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  The  first  paper  to  be  read  will  be  on  the  subject  of 
"Municipal  Ownership  of  Street  Railways,"  by  Frank  M.  Loomis,  Esq.,  of 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Loomis  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Municipal  Ownership  of  Street 
Railways."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT:  The  next  paper  is  on  the  same  subject,  and  will  be 
read  by  Charles  Richardson,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia.  During  my  tempo- 
rary absence  I  will  ask  Mr.  Bonaparte  to  take  the  Chair. 

Mr.  Richardson  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Municipal  Ownership  of  Street 
Railways."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  The  next  paper  is  on  "  The  Public  Control  of  Fran- 
chises," by  Hon.  Hazen  S.  Pingree.  We  had  hoped  to  hear  from  Mr.  Pin- 
gree,  the  Mayor  of  Detroit,  personally ;  but  I  am  sorry  to  say  instead  of 
his  coming  I  have  just  received  a  letter  in  which  he  asks  us  to  come  to 
him,  which  appears  to  me  to  illustrate  the  saying  of  the  inability  of  the 
mountain  to  come  to  Mahomet  and  its  consequences.  I  believe,  however, 
that  his  paper  has  arrived,  and  it  will  now  be  read  by  the  Secretary,  Mr. 
Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff. 

The  Secretary  then  read  Mayor  Pingree's  paper  on  "  The  Control  of 
Public  Franchises."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  The  next  paper  is  entitled  "  The  Relation  of  a 
Municipality  to  a  Quasi-Public  Corporation  Enjoying  Municipal  Fran- 
•chises,"  by  William  M.  Salter,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Salter  then  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Relation  of  a  Municipality  to  a 
•Quasi- Public  Corporation  Enjoying  Municipal  Franchises."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  We  had  hoped  to  hear  at  this  stage  a  paper  from 
Mr.  P.  J.  Maguire.  Mr.  Maguire  has  not  yet  arrived.  I  would  ask,  in  the 
absence  of  his  paper,  if  any  discussion  is  desired  on  the  topics  presented 
in  the  several  papers  already  read  ?  If  there  is  this  is  the  opportunity  for 
the  persons  who  feel  moved  to  say  anything.  If  not  we  will  pass  to  at 
least  one  other  paper. 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


MR.  LOOMIS  :  I  do  not  wish  to  take  up  any  other  person's  time;  but 
if  no  one  else  desires  to  speak  at  this  time  I  would  like  to  say  a  few  words 
in  answer  to  one  or  two  of  Mr.  Richardson's  points.  I  think  it  likely  that 
he  would  like  to  hear  any  criticism  on  his  paper. 

I  would  like  to  direct  attention  in  the  first  place  to  the  contention 
made  by  Mr.  Richardson  that  one  objection  to  municipal  control  of  street 
railways  by  the  local  authorities  would  be  on  account  of  the  officials  being 
corrupt.  I  do  not  see  how  he  can  expect  to  get  any  better  result  from  a 
corrupt  official  under  municipal  ownership  than  under  municipal  control. 
If  that  is  the  objection  to  the  endeavor  to  control  the  operations  of  these 
franchises  by  home  rule,  it  certainly  would  operate  with  as  much  or  greater 
force  against  that  control  which  is  incidental  to  the  control  and  operation 
of  the  franchises  by  the  municipality.  When  he  speaks  of  the  different 
public  spirit  which  is  manifested  in  Europe  as  a  reason  why  that  control 
is  efficient  there,  he  must  remember  we  need  the  same  public  spirit  if  the 
franchise  is  owned  and  operated  by  the  municipality. 

I  do  not  believe,  as  I  took  occasion  to  say  last  year,  that  there  is  a  lack 
of  public  spirit  among  American  citizens.  I  believe,  as  earnestly  as  I  be- 
lieve anything,  that  if  we  had  the  same  system  here  that  exists  in  Europe, 
by  which  we  would  not  be  under  the  control  of  caucus  rule,  that  the  Amer- 
ican would  rise  equal  to  the  occasion  as  quickly  as  the  European.  As  you 
know,  in  Europe  they  are  not  under  the  dictation  of  a  caucus.  In  Europe 
there  is  but  one  municipal  officer  voted  for.  Any  eight  persons  can  put  the 
name  of  their  candidate  on  an  official  ballot  without  expense.  There  is  no- 
undue  multiplicity  of  candidates,  because  only  one  man  is  voted  for  by  the 
electors  at  one  time.  Now  that  is  death  to  caucus  rule.  It  is  death  to  machine 
rule,  and  that  is  the  reason  why  public  spirit  has  manifested  itself  in 
Europe  as  it  cannot  in  America  to-day.  It  is  not  due,  as  I  believe, 
to  any  lack  of  civic  spirit  in  the  American  citizen.  I  think  we  must  have 
that  municipal  home  rule.  We  must  have  that  reform  of  our  electoral  sys- 
tem before  we  can  accomplish  all  that  might  be  reasonably  expected  from 
public  control  of  franchises. 

Now  I  do  not  dwell  at  any  length  upon  the  objection  to  municipal 
ownership  and  operation  of  franchises  that  it  would  tend  to  magnify  the 
evils  of  the  spoils  system,  because  I  assume  that  would  be  obvious  to  all ; 
but  how  any  one  can  believe  for  a  moment  that  those  evils  would  not  be 
greatly  magnified  under  the  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  fran- 
chises I  cannot  conceive.  As  we  see  it  to-day,  the  great  evil  from  that 
source  is  found  in  the  larger  cities.  The  more  there  is  of  the  public  ser- 
vice the  worse  the  evil  is.  Now  I  have  heard  at  said,  as  I  have  no  doubt 


BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 


you  all  have,  that  the  hair  of  the  dog  would  cure  the  bite.  I  have  heard 
it  said  that  like  cures  like,  especially  if  the  curative  remedy  is  administered 
in  homoeopathic  doses ;  but  I  have  not  heard  it  said  that  a  cure  admin- 
istered in  allopathic  doses  of  the  same  kind  as  the  evil  which  it  is  given  to 
remedy  will  do  very  much  towards  curing  the  patient,  and  I  think  the  more 
we  add  to  this  evil,  the  more  we  add  to  the  number  of  office  holders,  the 
worse  the  condition  will  be. 

Now  it  is  said,  too,  that  the  ownership  and  operation  of  the  franchises 
would  give  the  people  an  interest  in  public  matters,  which  would  arouse 
them  to  unusual  exertion,  or  more  exertion  than  is  now  shown.  Gentle- 
men, there  is  nothing  which  would  add  more  to  the  public  interest  of  the 
individual  citizen,  nothing  that  would  arouse  him  more  to  action,  than  to 
know  that  under  municipal  control  he  would  absolutely  have  in  his  power 
the  right  to  elect  a  public  official  who  could  absolutely  control  the  exercise 
of  the  franchises,  subject  only  to  revision  by  the  court.  That  would  arouse 
the  interest  of  the  voter,  and  lead  him  to  take  an  interest  in  public  matters 
much  more  so  than  would  the  simple  public  ownership  and  operation  of 
these  franchises,  that  would  take  it  from  out  of  his  immediate  interest  or 
control. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  desire,  or  whether  it  would  be  wise  to  discuss  at 
all  the  last  paper  read  here.  It  was  a  matter  of  great  surprise  to  me,  not 
having  seen  the  paper  or  heard  of  its  contents,  to  notice  how,  on  nearly 
parallel  lines,  the  first  parts  of  our  papers  were  prepared ;  and  it  would 
be  a  surprise,  I  think,  to  any  gentleman  who  had  prepared  a  paper  for  an 
occasion  of  this  kind  to  find  another  who  had  also  received  a  similar  invi- 
tation, had  pursued  the  same  line  of  thought  up  to  a  certain  point,  had 
started  out  with  the  same  premises  and  come  to  the  same  conclusion.  But 
if  we  are  to  have  a  discussion,  perhaps  I  might  as  well  say  a  word  about  it. 

I  have  some  doubt  myself — I  am  not  expressing  a  very  positive  opin- 
ion at  this  time  upon  the  matter — but  I  have  some  doubt  as  to  whether  it 
would  be  wise,  independent  of  the  right  existing,  in  a  community  to  at- 
tempt to  regu^te  the  wages  of  the  employees  of  a  street  railway  company 
by  law.  I  think  there  is  also  a  distinction  between  the  rights  which  the 
people  enjoy  as  a  whole.  Everybody  rides  on  street  cars.  I  think  there 
is  a  distinction  between  the  right  to  regulate  a  matter  of  that  kind  and  that 
which  relates  simply  to  one  body  of  citizens — the  employees  of  the  railroad 
company.  It  seems  to  me  there  is  an  important  distinction  there. 

Then  again,  I  may  be  diverging  a  little  from  my  subject,  yet  I  hardly 
know  how  to  discuss  it  without  stating  briefly  my  own  views  on  this  ques- 
tion of  regulating  the  wages  of  labor.  I  have  always  believed  that  this 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


vexed  question  between  capital  and  labor  never  could  be  solved,  except  by 
giving  full  liberty  of  combination  and  organization  to  both  the  capitalists 
and  the  laborer — full  liberty,  except  so  far  as  that  liberty  goes  to  the  point 
of  transgressing  on  the  liberty  of  others.  That  is,  liberty  to  organize, 
liberty  to  operate  collectively  so  far  as  that  liberty  is  not  carried  to  the 
point  that  it  transgresses  on  the  like  liberty  of  another.  I  am  one  of  those 
who  believe  this  question  will  never  be  solved  until  the  battle,  figuratively 
speaking,  is  fought  out. 

Labor  and  labor  organization  show  more  and  more  integration  as  the 
years  pass  and  capital  is  concentrated  more  and  more.  If  each  class  is 
allowed  free  liberty  of  action  both  labor  and  capital  will  be  so  thoroughly 
organized  that  both  the  capitalists  and  the  laborer  will  do  the  fair  thing. 
That  is  to  say,  that  the  capitalist  will  finally  be  placed  in  such  a  position  that 
he  cannot  demand  more  than  a  fair  return  on  his  capital  over  and  above 
the  amount  he  pays  to  labor  in  wages  and  the  laborer ;  on  the  other  hand, 
when  this  condition  is  reached  the  laborer  cannot  exact  any  more  than  a 
fair  wage,  because  if  he  does  business  will  cease. 

I  am  a  great  believer  myself  in  liberty  of  action,  except  so  far  as  it 
begins  to  trench  upon  the  right  of  another  ;  that  is  perfect  liberty  of  action, 
-except  so  long  as  the  law  is  not  violated. 

I  believe  this  question  can  be  best  solved  by  allowing  the  different  or- 
ganizations of  capital  and  labor  to  work  along  the  lines  of  evolution,  and, 
sooner  or  later,  if  let  alone,  and  each  organization  allowed  to  work  along 
its  own  lines  untrammeled,  the  question  will  solve  itself,  and  much  more 
•effectually  than  can  be  done  by  the  interference  of  the  legislature. 

I  have,  perhaps,  taken  up  more  of  your  time  than  was  my  province  or 
privilege  to  do.  I  trust  that  this  question  as  to  municipal  ownership,  and 
the  other  question  raised  by  my  friend,  Mr.  Salter,  will  be  discussed  in 
detail.  For  my  part  I  am  convinced  that  the  best  way  to  arrive  at  the  true 
solution  of  this  question  is  to  have  an  open  and  free  discussion — not  to 
have  everything  confined  to  formal  papers,  read  by  those  who  have  pre- 
pared them  at  their  leisure  before  the  meeting ;  but  to  have  a  full  and  free 
discussion  from  those  interested  in  the  subject,  because  it  is  only  by  criti- 
cism of  our  own  views  that  we  can  profit.  The  only  way  we  can  profit  by 
hearing  these  papers  read  is  to  have  them  criticised.  If  anything  is  said, 
if  any  statement  or  contention  is  made  which  will  not  bear  examination, 
that  fact  ought  to  be  shown  clearly.  In  that  way,  and  that  way  alone,  can 
we  make  progress  in  arriving  at  a  true  solution  of  this  question. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  It  may  be  a  question  as  to  what  is  a  natural  mo- 
nopoly, but  this  discussion  is  not  a  monopoly  of  those  who  have  read 


8  BALTIMORE  CONFERENCE 

papers  on  the  subject.  The  Chair  will  be  happy  to  recognize  any  gentle- 
man or  any  lady  who  desires  to  be  heard  on  the  question. 

MR.  RICHARDSON  :  I  suggest  that  it  would  be  well  to  limit  the  time. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  The  Chair,  acting  on  that  suggestion,  will  assume 
the  function  of  censor  in  the  matter  of  time,  and  will  suggest,  at  the  end 
of  ten  minutes,  to  each  speaker  that  possibly  the  rest  of  his  time  might  be 
given  to  another.  The  Chair  recognizes  Dr.  Leo  S.  Rowe. 

DR.  ROWE  :  It  seems  to  me,  in  the  first  place,  that  it  is  a  mechanical 
way  of  looking  at  this  problem  of  municipal  government  to  start  out  with 
the  premises  that,  given  the  number  of  evils  from  which  we  suffer  at  the 
present  time,  the  extension  of  functions  must  increase  those  evils  either 
in  arithmetical  or  geometrical  proportion.  That  view  of  municipal  activity 
fails  entirely  to  recognize  the  fact  that  municipal  government  is  something 
far  more  than  a  governmental  office ;  that  it  is  essentially  a  social  law,  and 
that  the  arguments  advanced  in  support  of  efficient  governmental  organi- 
zation are  of  comparatively  little  value  when  applied  to  the  question  of 
municipal  government.  The  question  of  concentration  of  responsibility, 
the  question  of  division  of  executive  and  legislative  functions,  the  question 
of  two  chambers,  one  of  which  shall  act  as  a  check  on  the  other,  are  all  of 
very  subordinate  importance  when  applied  to  the  question  of  municipal 
government. 

It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  all  these  questions  must  be  viewed  from 
another  standpoint.  We,  in  the  larger  cities  both  of  the  United  States 
and  in  Europe,  have  been  placed  in  entirely  new  environments ;  entirely 
new  conditions  have  been  developed  about  us,  and  these  conditions  call 
for  an  entirely  new  set  of  civic  instincts,  civic  ideas  and  civic  habits ;  and 
it  is  the  development  of  those  new  instincts,  new  customs  of  the  new  city 
man,  as  it  were,  which  must  be  kept  continually  in  view  in  determining  the 
question  of  governmental  organization  and  determining  the  question  of  the 
character  which  our  city  life  shall  take.  It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  when 
you  come  to  consider  the  extension  of  municipal  activity,  the  question  must 
be  judged  by  the  development,  the  incentive  which  this  increased  activity 
will  give  to  these  new  instincts  and  habits.  It  was,  therefore,  with  very 
great  pleasure  that  I  welcomed  the  thought  of  Mr.  Richardson  in  his  paper 
that  an  increase  of  functions  on  the  part  of  our  municipal  corporations, 
while  it  undoubtedly  involves  certain  very  grave  dangers — and  no  one  is 
more  cognizant  of  those  dangers  than  myself — still  it  has  the  one  great 
argument  back  of  it  that  it  will  serve  to  bring  responsibility  to  the  people ; 
that  it  will  contribute  to  the  development  of  those  qualities  which  seem  to 
me  to  be  essential  in  modern  civic  life,  and  the  lack  of  which  is  the 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


true  explanation  why  the  forms  of  government  adopted  by  us  in  national 
affairs  have  been  a  failure  in  the  United  States  when  applied  to  the  cities. 
It  is  the  reason  why  concentration  of  power  has  not  been  as  satisfactory  as 
predicted  for  it ;  it  is  the  reason  why  any  mere  governmental  organization 
will  be  unsatisfactory  and  remain  unsatisfactory  until  we  have  this  new 
development  of  the  individual,  as  pointed  out  in  the  paper  of  Mr.  Richardson, 

Coming,  then,  to  the  second  point,  viz  :  The  question  of  control  by 
the  municipal  government  over  public  corporations,  we  have  to  keep  in 
mind  that  we  Americans  live  under  a  peculiar  constitutional  system ;  that 
on  all  sides  we  are  hampered — probably  that  word  hampered  is  objection- 
able— but  meaning,  at  all  events,  that  on  all  sides  we  are  limited  by  specific 
constitutional  restrictions  which  have  been  placed  on  the  power  of  the 
government  in  our  national  and  our  State  Constitutions.  Therefore,  this 
question  of  municipal  control  of  private  corporations  must  always  be  con- 
sidered with  specific  reference  to  the  doctrine  established  by  our  courts 
in  interpreting  those  constitutional  restrictions. 

I  should  fully  agree  with  the  gentleman  who  preceded  me  in  saying 
that  under  ordinary  circumstances  municipal  control  over  private  street 
railway  corporations  such  as  we  find  in  most  of  the  German  cities,  such  as 
we  find  in  many  English  cities,  that  municipal  control  under  those  circum- 
stances would  be  preferable  in  our  country  to  direct  municipal  manage- 
ment ;  but  if  the  gentleman  has  lived  in  a  city  where  the  city  authorities 
had  endeavored  to  exercise  control  from  time  to  time  over  private  corpora- 
tions exercising  municipal  franchises,  and  has  seen  how,  at  every  step, 
they  have  been  hampered  by  the  fact  that  the  courts,  and  very  justly,  are 
committed  to  a  certain  doctrine  for  the  protection  of  private  property  and 
apply  the  same  rules  of  law  to  the  corporations  enjoying  municipal  fran- 
chises, as  to  private  corporations — purely  private  corporations  and  individ- 
uals— he  would  see  that,  while  municipal  control  of  these  corporations  is 
very  well  in  theory,  and,  as  a  general  principle,  is  a  perfectly  valid  system, 
yet,  under  our  peculiar  system  of  government,  and  especially  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  our  courts  exercise  such  a  controlling  influence  in  determining 
the  limits  of  municipal  activity  under  our  present  system,  such  municipal 
control  cannot  be  effected.  I  feel  sure  it  cannot  be  effected  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania.  I  have  in  mind  quite  a  number  of  the  decisions  of  the 
State  courts  where  exactly  the  same  obstacle  is  met  with,  and  acts  as  a 
deadly  influence  on  the  control  of  municipal  corporations  by  the  munici- 
pality ;  and,  as  I  said  before,  I  do  not  see  how  it  can  be  effected  under 
our  present  system.  (Applause). 

MR.  GEORGE  BURNHAM,  JR.,  Philadelphia :  I  only  wish  to  call   atten- 


IO  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 

tipn  to  the  fact  that  in  neither  of  the  papers  read  has  the  idea  been  fully 
brought  out  that  there  is  a  plan  of  municipal  ownership  that  does  not  in- 
volve municipal  organization.  It  has  been  tried,  I  believe,  very  effectually 
in  some  English  cities.  I  refer  to  the  plan  where  the  city  owns  the  railroad 
companies,  but  leases  them  for  a  limited  period  of  time  to  private  corpora- 
tions. This,  it  seems  to  me,  would  obviate  the  difficulties  that  Mr.  Loomis 
pointed  out  of  introducing  into  the  city  another  set  of  employees  and  offi- 
cers, because  the  employees  in  this  case  will  be  those  of  a  private  company. 
It  would,  on  the  other  hand,  enable  the  city  to  make,  from  time  to  time,  a 
better  bargain  than  when  the  franchise  is  once  for  all  given  to  a  corporation 
which  is  allowed  to  do  pretty  much  as  it  pleases. 

I  am  inclined  to  favor  the  plan  of  a  city  leasing  rather  than  operating 
its  public  franchises,  at  least,  tentatively,  until  our  municipal  conditions  are 
very  much  improved  and  the  civil  service  or  merit  system  is  more  fully 
established. 

MR.  RICHARDSON:  I  think  that  some  of  the  points  that  have  been 
raised  have  been  pretty  well  covered  in  my  paper ;  but  I  would  like  to  say 
a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  remarks  of  my  friend,  Mr.  Loomis. 

In  the  first  place,  he  suggested  that  the  officials  being  corrupt,  the  sys- 
tem which  my  paper  proposed  would  be  of  no  advantage.  Now,  it  seems 
to  me,  that  bribery,  like  other  bargains,  takes  two ;  and  as  the  system 
which  I  proposed — of  course,  the  system  is  not  original  with  me — would 
do  away  with  bribery  entirely,  as  there  would  be  no  company  to  do  the 
bribing.  I  think  the  result  of  the  system  would  be  to  make  the  officials  less 
corrupt ;  so  that  in  both  of  those  ways  we  would  gain  the  advantage  which 
I  suggested. 

Now,  as  to  this  increasing  of  the  spoils.  I  would  suggest  again  that 
the  most  conspicuous  instance  of  the  spoils  system  has  been  in  the  United 
States  Government.  There  the  funds  were  large,  the  employees  were 
more  numerous,  the  funds  handled  have  been  greater — possibly  they  are 
still  greater,  but  at  any  rate  almost  equal  to  that  of  all  our  American  cities 
combined ;  and  it  is  precisely  because  of  that  fact,  as  I  believe,  that  we 
have  been  able  to  interest  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  to  get  a 
public*  sentiment  strong  enough  to  secure-  the  placing — I  see  by  the  News 
it  amounts  to  more  than  eighty-five  thousand  places — of  such  a  large  number 
of  the  employees  of  the  United  States  under  the  Civil  Service  system.  I 
think  if  it  has  worked  so  well  in  the  United  States  Government,  we  could 
reasonably  expect  it  to  work  as  well  in  our  municipal  government. 

Mr.  Loomis  speaks  of  municipal  control.  Now,  fortunately  for  my 
argument,  we  have  experience  on  that  question,  and  I  know  of  no  case  in 
an  American  city  where  an  attempt  at  municipal  control  of  street  railways 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  II 

has  not  resulted  in  the  absolute  control  of  the  municipality  by  the  street 
railway  companies.  We  have  had  for  nearly  forty  years  in  Philadelphia 
the  complete  power  by  the  City  Councils  and  the  city  government  to  con- 
trol the  street  railways.  They  had  the  power,  under  the  original  ordinance, 
before  a  rail  was  laid  in  the  city,  to  take  the  property  of  every  company 
that  was  thereafter  allowed  to  lay  its  tracks,  at  cost.  With  that  power  they 
could  certainly  have  controlled  it  so  far  as  legal  power  is  concerned ;  but, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  companies  have  controlled  the  city,  and  control  the 
City  Councils  to-day.  I  think  that  will  be  the  general  result  of  municipal 
control. 

The  last  suggestion  of  my  friend,  Mr.  Burnham,  was  also  alluded  to 
in  my  paper,  and  that  is :  that  cities  should  own  the  railroad  companies, 
own  the  properties,  and  then  lease  them  to  operating  companies.  I  can 
only  repeat  the  suggestion  I  made  in  my  paper,  that  that  leaves  the  com- 
pany alive  to  do  bribery,  to  do  corrupting,  to  get  advantageous  terms  for 
itself.  It  is  like  trying  to  control  a  rattlesnake  by  taking  a  firm  grip  of  its 
tail — the  results  would  be  unsatisfactory.  (Laughter). 

Moreover,  in  those  cities  in  Europe,  and  I  think  Dr.  Rowe  will  bear 
me  out  in  that  statement,  which  have  exercised  most  successfully  municipal 
control  over  such  companies,  are  now  tending  very  strongly,  and  in  some 
of  them  have  actually  accomplished  it,  to  change  to  the  system  of  absolute 
operation,  as  well  as  ownership.  (Applause). 

MR.  J.  F.  HUDSON,  Pittsburg :  The  intimation  in  one  of  the  remarks 
that  we  are  to  be  restricted  in  our  discussion  of  what  ought  to  be  by  the 
views  which  have  been  taken  by  certain  Superior  Courts,  moves  me  to 
express  my  conviction  that,  if  we  are  to  be  governed  in  our  views  of  reform 
by  the  views  which  have  been  taken  by  the  Pennsylvania  Supreme  Court, 
at  times,  we  might  as  well  sit  down  and  leave  the  solution  of  this  question 
to  the  cataclysms  of  the  future. 

I  have  been  moved  to  take  part  in  this  argument  for  one  purpose. 
With  a  profound  appreciation  of  the  study  of  this  question  given  by  the 
other  gentlemen,  it  seems  to  me  that  they  have,  in  the  matter  of  remedy, 
adopted,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  position  of  those  who,  if  they  had  passed 
along  a  road  and  having  taken  the  wrong  way,  find  themselves  presently  at 
a  place  where  the  road  ends,  and  an  unscalable  precipice  on  one  side 
and  an  impassable  stream  on  the  other,  should  stop  and  debate  whether 
it  is  best  to  try  and  scale  the  precipice  or  try  and  swim  the  stream. 
I  believe  if  we  study  the  question  of  the  granting  of  all  these  franchises,  if 
we  go  back  to  the  starting  point,  if  we  consider  the  principles  laid  down  at 
that  starting  point  by  the  highest  authorities,  legal  as  well  as  social,  we  can 


12  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 

sec  where  the  wrong  road  was  taken.  The  proper  course  is  when  we  come 
to  the  stopping  place  on  the  wrong  road,  to  turn  around  and  go  back  and 
start  on  the  right  road. 

In  order  to  explain  within  the  limits  of  my  time  what  I  mean,  I  will 
turn  back  and  allude  for  a  moment  to  the  point  which  has  been  touched 
upon  by  nearly  every  paper — and  that  is  the  question  of  a  natural  monopoly. 
As  I  understand  it,  the  definition  of  a  natural  monopoly  is  a  business  in 
which,  by  its  nature,  competition  is  impossible  ;  that  is,  by  the  nature  of  the 
service  to  be  performed,  two  competitors  cannot  perform  that  service  as 
well  as  a  single  one.  There  may  be  such  a  business ;  but  I  desire  to 
express  my  thorough  conviction  that  the  business  under  discussion  here 
to-day — that  of  transportation  through  the  streets — is  not  such  a  business  ; 
that  the  business  of  distributing  gas,  fuel  gas  or  illuminating  gas,  to  a  city 
is  not  such  a  business,  and  I  wish  to  assert  that  if  one-half  the  time,  inge- 
nuity and  scheming  had  been  devoted  to  preserving  and  maintaining 
competition  in  those  businesses,  that  has  been  devoted  to  suppressing, 
excluding  and  stamping  it  out  for  private  profit,  you  would  find  thorough, 
legitimate  and  perfect  competition  in  each  one  of  them  to-day. 

In  the  transportation  business  you  have  a  set  of  rails  running  along 
the  public  highway,  and  the  very  nature  of  a  public  highway  intimates  that 
everybody  with  vehicles  suitable  to  the  character  of  that  highway  can  use 
it.  Suppose  for  an  instant  that  the  plan  suggested  was  adopted,  that  the 
city  when  it  paves  its  streets  should  lay  the  track.  The  fact  of  the  matter 
is  that  the  extra  cost  of  the  track  added  to  the  cost  assessed  for  making  the 
pavement  would  be  a  comparatively  moderate  percentage.  Suppose,  then, 
that  over  that  track  every  one  could  run  over  that  track  an  electric  car,  or  a 
gas  car,  or  compressed  air  car — and  it  is  well  to  remember  in  all  these  dis- 
cussions, while  this  country  has  determined  for  the  time  being  that  electricity 
is  the  power  to  be  used,  there  are  other  motors  which,  it  is  claimed  by  experts, 
will  eventually  displace  electricity — suppose  anybody  could  run  and  operate 
over  these  tracks  who  brings  his  cars  to  it,  would  you  not  have  competition 
there  ?  And  that  competition  could  not  be  overthrown  by  combinations, 
because  if  those  who  were  operating  cars  there  for  the  time  being  on  that 
track  should  combine,  anybody  with  a  few  thousand  dollars  could  bring 
another  car  there  ;  or  the  public  could  bring  another  car  there  if  it  chose  to 
do  so.  Would  not  that  establish  a  principle  of  competition  which  would 
fix  the  just  rate  for  transportation  over  that  track  because  it  would  be  fixed 
by  the  natural  and  normal  conditions  of  trade  ? 

There  is  a  branch  of  this  subject  in  which  this  idea  seems  to  me  to  be 
very  important.  It  may  be  a  difficult  question  to  take  a  business  which  has 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  13 

so  largely  taken  shape  as  the  matter  of  street  railways  has ;  it  is  also  a 
difficult  subject  to  take  the  matter  of  gas  that  has  crystallized  in  a  certain 
degree  in  all  our  cities ;  it  is  a  difficult  matter  to  take  questions  of  this  kind, 
but  the  fact  is,  in  regard  to  the  subject  of  gas,  there  is  a  new  development 
of  it  coming,  as  I  believe,  and  as  experts  of  the  highest  authority  tell  me. 
It  has  been  ascertained  in  Europe  and  in  this  country  that  by  what  is  called 
the  closed  oven  process,  you  can  make  out  of  a  ton  of  bituminous  coal  a 
product  of  coke,  which,  in  fuel  value,  is  very  nearly  equal  to  the  bituminous 
coal.  You  can  also  make  the  additional  product  of  gas,  which  in  fuel  value 
is  equal  if  not  superior  to  the  ton  of  coal.  In  the  next  place  you  can,  in 
addition,  obtain  from  the  manufacture  by-products,  the  market  price  of 
which  at  present  would  pay  the  cost  of  the  bituminous  coal  at  or  near  the 
mine.  To  my  mind  this  foreshadows  a  future  in  which  the  entire  fuel  of 
our  large  cities  at  least,  and  I  think  of  cities  of  medium  size,  will  be  fur- 
nished, through  this  manufacture  of  coal  with  this  smokeless  and  perfect 
fuel,  manufactured  at  or  near  the  edges  of  the  city,  the  gas  to  be  distributed 
for  fuel  in  pipes  throughout  the  city.  The  degree  to  which  the  full  cheap- 
ness of  that  change  for  the  future  is  to  be  secured  to  the  people  will  depend 
upon  the  perfect  ability  of  every  manufacturer  of  coke  and  gas  from  these 
products  to  get  his  fuel  to  the  consumer.  Of  course  the  coke  will  be  trans- 
ported by  wagons  and  carts,  as  every  one  can  run  a  cart  through  the  streets 
on  equal  terms.  Nobody  ever  yet  started  out  with  the  idea  that  he  should 
get  from  the  City  Council  the  exclusive  right  of  running  a  cart  through  the 
streets.  Suppose,  by  a  corresponding  law,  which  is  as  well  founded  and 
just  as  that  in  regard  to  carts  and  wagons,  that  when  a  gas  pipe  is  laid 
beneath  the  street,  that  gas  pipe  must  transport  to  its  capacity  the  gas  of  all 
manufacturers  of  a  fixed  quality,  for  transportation  through  that  pipe,  to 
the  consumers  which  that  manufacturer  designates,  you  will  establish  by 
such  a  law  a  policy  by  which  every  manufacturer  of  gas  can  compete  for 
the  supply  of  gas  to  consumers. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  The  discussion  is  very  interesting,  but  the  gentle- 
man's time  has  something  more  than  expired. 

DR.  JOHN  M.  GREGORY,  of  Washington :  I  have  but  a  few  words  to 
say.  In  the  first  place,  I  agree  with  you  all  as  to  the  excellency  of  the 
papers  in  which  this  subject  was  first  discussed  before  us,  and  I  felt  that 
although  I  am  quite  interested  on  one  side  of  the  question,  and  all  sides 
of  the  question,  I  should  be  willing  that  the  question  should  go  to  the  jury 
of  the  people  with  no  other  remark  added  to  it  than  the  papers  themselves. 
But  there  were  in  the  papers,  especially  in  one  of  them,  some  allusions  to 
general  principles  which  I  do  not  deem  to  be  correct,  which  none  of  us  will 
agree  with  fully,  in  regard  to  the  questions  that  are  before  us.  As  to  munic- 


14  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 

ipal  gas,  municipal  railroads,  etc.,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  friends  of 
municipal  reform,  or  of  municipal  betterment — which  I  think  is  a  better 
word  than  reform,  because  it  implies  a  good  deal  more — that  the  friends  of 
municipal  betterment  should  take  it  for  granted,  as  I  think  we  are  now 
permitted  to  take  it  for  granted,  that  the  municipal  railway  will  come,  is 
bound  to  come,  and  speedily  ;  and  that  the  municipal  gas  works  will  come  ; 
that  the  evidence  already  before  this  country  and  before  Europe  is  so 
strongly  in  favor  of  municipal  gas  works,  municipal  railways,  municipal 
water  works,  etc.,  that  nothing  can  prevent  them  having  their  place,  and  at 
some  early  day  in  the  future. 

There  remains  for  us,  therefore,  it  seems  to  me,  not  very  much  more  of 
discussion  as  to  municipal  right ;  or  public  right  in  regard  to  these  ques- 
tions. The  question  now  is,  practically,  how  to  bring  the  day  along.  The 
difficulty  that  lies  in  the  way,  as  proved  in  our  good  city  of  Washington, 
is  that  there  is  a  very  large  number,  as  was  intimated  I  think  by  Mr. 
Richardson,  of  people  who  are  interested  as  shareholders  in  these  stocks, 
that  pay  such  large  dividends,  that  I  do  not  wonder  no  one  wants  to  have 
his  stock  depreciated  or  taken  away  from  him.  I  should  be  glad  to  own  a 
good  deal  of  such  stock  myself;  I  presume  every  one  would  be  glad  also 
for  some  shares  of  that  stock.  But  I  recognize  behind  these  shareholders, 
and  you  do,  large  numbers — immense  numbers — of  people  whose  rights 
and  whose  interests  and  whose  well  being  demands  that  these  things  shall 
come.  I  speak  of  the  artisan  and  laboring  classes. 

The  progress  of  city  growth  and  the  extension  of  cities  over  large 
territory  has  made  the  question  of  transportation  in  the  streets  a  vital 
question  to  large  numbers  of  those  who  are  obliged  to  depend  on  their 
daily  labor  for  their  support ;  and  the  time  is  at  hand  when  it  will  be  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  provide  these  things  ;  but  the  question  is  how  to  get 
around  the  difficulties  that  lay  in  the  way. 

I  do  not  believe  the  argument  for  or  against  these  things  can  be 
differently  stated  from  what  it  has  been  stated.  As  I  said,  I  would  be  will- 
ing that  the  two  papers,  the  one  read  by  Mr.  Richardson  and  the  other  by 
Mr.  Loomis,  should  go  before  the  jury  of  the  people  as  a  full  statement  of 
the  question  ;  and  I  do  not  think  the  verdict  would  be  long  in  coming  back 
to  us.  But  the  question  now  is,  to  let  the  masses  of  the  American  people 
see  what  are  the  advantages  that  would  be  gained  from  this.  One  of  those 
advantages  alone  I  wish  to  state,  and  I  state  it  more  from  our  experience  in 
the  city  of  Washington  than  from  any  experience  that  you  may  have  in 
the  larger  and  older  cities  like  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  etc. — the  distribu- 
tion of  the  car  service  in  our  streets. 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  15 

The  building  of  railroads  by  corporations  in  the  first  place  I  regard 
was  a  necessity.  The  public  interest  and  public  intelligence  on  the  subject 
would  not  have  permitted  the  establishment  of  a  municipal  service  at  the 
outset ;  it  could  not  have  been  done.  We  could  not  have  had  street  rail- 
ways established  in  that  way  in  this  country,  though  I  think  they  could 
have  been  abroad.  I  agree  with  Mr.  Richardson,  after  some  years  of 
residence  in  foreign  cities — in  the  largest  of  foreign  cities — that  the  con- 
dition of  things,  notwithstanding  the  objections  of  gentlemen  on  the  other 
side,  is  so  different  that  you  can  not  make  the  argument  alike  for  the 
European  city  and  the  American  city.  I  will  not  stop  to  explain  my  own 
view ;  but  I  only  give  the  fact.  In  America  we  could  not  have  gotten  our 
railroads  if  we  had  waited  for  the  City  Councils  or  any  public  authorities 
to  produce  them.  But  we  all  recognize  the  fact  that  within  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  steadily  from  year  to  year  there  has  gone  on  a  change  in  public 
opinion  and  an  advance  in  the  view  of  the  public  in  regard  to  the  rights 
and  interests  of  citizens,  and  the  duties  of  the  community  at  large  to  the 
masses  of  its  citizenship. 

Now,  in  the  city  of  Washington  I  observe  this  :  that  at  every  session 
of  Congress,  we  have  more  or  less  corporations ;  many  corporations  coming 
to  ask  that  they  shall  be  permitted  to  put  railways  in  certain  streets.  They 
have  looked  over  the  ground,  and  they  have  seen  certain  streets  in  different 
parts  of  the  city  that  would  pay  them  for  the  investment ;  and  the  others 
they  do  not  propose  to  pay  any  attention  to.  The  streets  they  would  pro- 
vide for  are  streets  that  could  afford  to  do  without  them.  The  people  who 
live  there  have  their  own  carriages  in  a  good  many  cases.  The  streets  in 
which  railroads  are  needed  are  not  filled  with  this  class  of  people.  It  is 
precisely  as  it  was  in  regard  to  the  postal  system.  The  express  companies 
could  have  carried  the  United  States  mail  cheaper  between  the  cities  of 
Washington,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Chicago  than  it  is 
done  by  the  government ;  but  the  express  companies  would  not  have 
agreed  to  have  carried  the  mails  anywhere  except  where  it  would  pay,  and 
the  railroad  companies,  as  far  as  I  observe,  will  not  build  street  railways 
except  where  it  will  pay.  If,  in  place  of  these  private  corporations  building 
our  street  railways,  we  should  have  government  railways  or  municipal  rail- 
ways, they  would  be  distributed  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  city  just  as  the  Post 
Office  has  distributed  the  postal  service  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  people. 
The  large  routes  pay  for  the  small  ones.  The  routes  that  would  pay  very 
much  to  the  express  company ;  the  surplus  that  would  be  received  from 
these  routes  in  the  case  of  the  express  company  would  go  for  the  payment 
of  dividends.  In  the  case  of  the  government,  it  goes  for  the  payment  of 


1 6  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 

the  extension  of  the  mails  to  places  where  letters  will  not  pay  for  their  own 
transportation. 

Precisely  the  same  thing  is  true  in  the  city  of  Washington  in  regard  to 
the  street  railway  service.  Where  the  masses  of  the  people  need  this  service, 
the  people  who  need  it  are  those  who  have  to  come  two,  three  or  four  miles 
to  the  city  to  their  daily  labor ;  but  there  is  no  car  service  for  them,  and 
there  will  not  be  under  the  present  system,  until  there  shall  arise  population 
enough — a  car-riding  population  enough — to  pay  for  the  establishment  of 
those  railways. 

I  mean  to  say  that  this  is  one  of  the  arguments  that  ought  to  be  placed 
before  the  people  and  dwelt  upon.  We  should  lead  the  people  to  make  an 
earlier  and  stronger  demand  for  the  establishment  of  what  must  ultimately 
come. 

I  make  no  argument  for  the  establishment  of  municipal  railways 
under  the  supposition  that  we  have  got  yet  to  debate  the  question  whether 
the  municipal  railways  can  be  run,  whether  they  can  be  cared  for,  and 
whether  civil  service  would  be  effective  or  not  in  that  matter,  or  stretched 
beyond  due  bounds.  I  make  no  such  argument,  because  I  count  it  as  a 
fact  settled — as  settled  as  that  to-morrow's  sun  will  shine — that  the 
municipal  railway,  which  has  already  begun  to  appear  in  Europe,  and  to 
appear  very  largely,  will  appear  in  this  country. 

As  to  this  civil  service  part  of  it,  I  was  going  to  say,  as  knowing  some- 
thing about  it,  from  having  been  formerly  connected  with  the  Civil  Service 
Commission,  that  the  argument  that  has  been  made  against  the  municipal 
management  of  street  railways,  or  any  other  service,  on  the  ground  that  it 
would  increase  the  number  of  civil  servants,  and  therefore  an  opportunity 
for  corruption  has  no  force,  no  weight,  in  effect  at  all.  The  increase  of  the 
governmental  service  of  the  United  States  Government  in  the  city  of 
Washington,  and  throughout  the  country  at  large,  from  ten  thousand  up  to 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  and  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
public  servants  has  been  accomplished  before  even  civil  service  reform 
began  to  do  its  work,  with  a  constantly  diminishing  proportion  of  defalca- 
tions and  failures  in  that  service.  The  increase  of  the  public  service,  even 
if  multiplied  many  times  over,  would  not  necessarily  carry  with  it,  from  the 
history  of  the  past,  would  not  bring  with  it  necessarily  any  tendency  to 
corruption.  That  corruption  has  been  from  the  great  corporations,  and  not 
at  all  from  the  governmental  service.  (Applause). 

MR.  WILLIAM  ERSKINE,  of  Wheeling :  I  rise  not  to  make  a  speech 
but  just  to  say  one  word.  I  am  from  a  city  which  has  always  owned  its 
water  works,  and  for  twenty-four  years  has  owned  its  gas  works,  and  for 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  1 7 

several  years  has  owned  its  electric  light  system,  and  I  believe  that  not  one 
citizen  in  a  thousand  would  go  back  to  private  ownership  of  gas  and  water 
works ;  and  but  few  to  corporate  or  private  system  of  electric  lighting  of 
the  streets.  (Applause). 

REV.  ADOLPH  ROEDER,  of  Vineland,  N.  J. :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have 
been  an  interested  listener  to  these  very  interesting  discussions  and  appre- 
ciate all  that  has  been  said,  and  escaped  from  the  rattlesnake  which  Mr. 
Richardson  so  carefully  handled  along  the  pathway  spoken  of  by  the 
previous  speaker,  limited  on  one  side  by  an  impassable  river  and  on  the 
other  by  an  unscalable  precipice ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  discussion 
would  tend  backward  towards  its  original  points,  that  is,  the  points  estab' 
lished  by  both  the  papers,  as  well  as  the  suggestion  of  government  owner- 
ship with  lease  to  private  corporations ;  that  they  would  ultimately  come 
back  to  the  first  objections  that  were  acknowledged  by  both  Mr.  Loomis 
and  Mr.  Richardson  ;  that  is,  that  there  is  corporation  corruption  in  munic- 
ipal official  circles,  and  that  on  the  rock  of  corporation  bribery  everything 
would  suffer  shipwreck  that  could  be  tried  or  that  could  be  inaugurated  by 
the  citizens  of  any  one  municipality. 

But  the  fact  of  public  ownership  or  municipal  control  of  various 
franchises  is,  as  the  last  speaker  stated,  not  a  theory  any  longer ;  but  it  is 
in  its  experimental  stage.  I  see  no  danger,  even  looking  into  the  future  as 
far  as  one  of  the  previous  speakers  has  done,  in  the  exercise  by  the  munic- 
ipality of  these  rights ;  but  rather  consider  it  in  the  experimental  stage. 
Looking  at  it  in  that  light  I  would  say  we  probably  could  learn  valuable 
lessons  from  the  experiments  tried.  In  one  municipality,  probably,  it 
would  be  wiser  simply  for  the  municipality  to  have  control.  Under  other 
circumstances  it  might  be  better  for  the  municipality  to  have  absolute 
ownership,  to  hold  in  every  way  and  in  all  directions.  Again,  under  other 
conditions,  it  might  be  wiser  for  the  municipality  to  own  and  to  lease.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  the  question  could  be  settled,  and  it  will  be  settled  for 
each  municipality  by  those  most  directly  interested.  Therefore,  the  ques- 
tion comes  back  not  only  to  the  statement  made  by  one  of -the  previous 
'  speakers  as  to  the  growth  of  civic  spirit,  as  to  its  rapid  development  in  our 
present  day,  as  to  that  altruistic  individualism  which  governs  most  nowa- 
days— it  comes  back  to  that — but  also  to  the  two  points  given  in  the 
admirable  speeches  heard  before.  When  our  friend  Mr.  Starr  brought 
forward  the  idea  of  civil  service  reform  and  gave  such  delight  to  my  mind 
and  work,  and  when  that  paper  was  universally  emphasized  by  the  order 
of  the  chief  executive  recently,  and  when  the  same  idea  was  brought  for- 
ward in  various  lights  and  under  various  views,  it  seemed  to  me  then  we 


BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 


had  taken  the  first  step  to  a  most  important  consideration  that  must  decide 
itself  or  be  decided  by  the  public  spirit  :  that  is,  the  support  of  civil  service 
reform  in  all  quarters,  and  its  introduction  into  municipalities  if  possible. 

The  other  point  was  one  raised  by  our  esteemed  President  in  his  ex- 
cellent speech  of  last  night,  which,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  live  in  our  memo- 
ries for  a  great  many  years  ;  and  that  is,  that  if  there  is  to  be  a  check  put 
upon  the  corruption  against  the  rock  of  which  the  various  efforts  in  munic- 
ipal reform  are  now  suffering  shipwreck,  if  there  is  to  be  a  check  put  upon 
that  the  greatest  importance  must  be  attached  to  the  idea  of  separating, 
absolutely  in  toto,  municipal  affairs  from  the  affairs  of  state  and  national 
politics  and  from  the  partisan  spirit  that  naturally  grows  up  in  the  absence 
of  such  separation. 

I  think  the  larger  importance  is  to  be  attached  to  these  two  issues  ;  the 
rest  must  remain  in  an  experimental  stage  for  some  time  to  come. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  The  Chair  is  sorry  to  announce  the  close  of  this 
discussion.  We  will  now  listen  to  a  paper  on  the  "  Municipal  Condition 
of  Pittsburg,"  by  George  W.  Guthrie,  Esq. 

Mr.  Guthrie  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Municipal  Condition  of  Pittsburg." 
(See  Appendix). 

THE  SECRETARY  :  I  would  like  to  add  just  a  single  word  to  Mr.  Guth- 
rie's  paper,  and  state  what  he  was  too  modest  to  state  himself  —  that  he  was 
the  distinguished  leader  of  the  reform  ticket,  and  he  was  the  man  who 
came  within  twelve  hundred  and  ninety-two  votes  of  being  the  first  reform 
mayor  of  Pittsburg.  I  would  like  to  say  further  that,  far  from  being  dis- 
couraged, the  Municipal  League  of  Pittsburg  proposes  to  keep  up  the  fight 
—  having  engaged  permanent  headquarters  and  a  secretary.  It  will  con- 
tinue the  fight  with  every  assurance  of  ultimately  winning. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  There  will  now  be  an  intermission  for  the  purpose  of 
refreshment,  and  the  intellectual  exercises  will  commence  again,  as  punctu- 
ally as  our  indulgence  may  permit,  at  2.30  P.  M.  I  will  say  in  this  con- 
nection that  there  will  be  some  little  change  of  programme,  due  partly  to 
the  fact  that  some  of  the  gentlemen  not  having  been  able  to  attend  person- 
ally are  represented  only  by  their  papers,  and  also  to  a  desire  on  the  part  of 
the  Executive  Committee,  if  possible,  to  reserve  to-morrow  afternoon  for  a 
business  session,  which  seems  likely  to  be  important,  as  several  matters  of 
business  await  its  determination.  The  Conference  will  resume  its  session 
in  this  room  at  2.30  P.  M. 

The  Conference  then  adjourned. 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  19 

Thursday,  May  7,  1896,  2.30  P.  M. 

President  Carter  in  the  Chair. 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  We  will  begin  the  afternoon  session  with  the  first 
paper,  entitled  "  The  Municipal  Condition  of  Richmond,"  by  Virginius 
Newton,  Esq.  Mr.  Newton  is  not  present  and  his  paper  will  be  read  by 
Mr.  Frank  N.  Hartwell. 

Mr.  Hartwell  read  Mr.  Newton's  paper  on  "  The  Municipal  Condition 
of  Richmond."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  We  will  pass  to  the  next  paper  on  "  The  Municipal 
Condition  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,"  by  A.  V.  S.  Lindsley,  Esq. 

Mr.  Lindsley  read  a  paper  on  "The  Municipal  Condition  of  Nash- 
ville, Tenn."  (See  Appendix}. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  The  next  paper  is  on  "The  Municipal  Condition  of 
Memphis,  Tenn.,"  by  James  H.  Malone,  Esq.,  which  will  be  read  by  Mr. 
Z.  T.  Smith,  of  Pittsburg. 

Mr.  Smith  read  Mr.  Malone's  paper  on  "The  Municipal  Condition  of 
Memphis,  Tenn."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT:  The  next  paper  is  on  "Municipal  Reform  in 
Georgia,"  by  Arthur  Dasher,  Esq. 

Mr.  Dasher  read  a  paper  on  "  Municipal  Reform  in  Georgia."  (See 
Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  We  will  have  the  paper,  which  was  passed,  entitled 
"  The  Municipal  Condition  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,"  by  A.  H.  Davis,  Esq.,  which 
will  be  read  by  Dr.  Albert  G.  Lawson,  of  Camden. 

Doctor  Lawson  read  Mr.  Davis's  paper  on  "  The  Municipal  Condition 
of  Atlanta."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  This  concludes  the  reading  of  the  papers  for  the 
afternoon  session ;  but  before  adjourning  the  Secretary  desires  to  read 
several  communications  which  have  just  come  to  us  by  letter  and  other- 
wise. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  I  received  this  morning  a  letter  from  Mr.  Newton, 
whose  paper  on  "  Municipal  Condition  of  Richmond  "  has  been  read,  stating 
that  his  absence  was  caused  by  the  very  serious,  perhaps  fatal,  illness  of  his 
partner,  and  he  felt  he  could  not  leave  him. 

I  have  also  received  the  following  telegram  from  the  directors  of  the 
Louisville  Board  of  Trade  inviting  the  National  Municipal  League  to  hold 
its  next  annual  meeting  in  that  city.  It  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  Directors  of  the  Louisville  Board  of  Trade  at  a  full  meeting  to- 
day unanimously  passed  a  resolution  inviting  the  National  Municipal 
League  and  National  Conference  for  Good  City  Government  to  hold  their 


2O  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 

next  annual  meeting  in  this  city.     You  are  hereby  requested  to  lay  the  in- 
vitation before  the  proper  authorities  and  urge  its  acceptance.     Louisville 
will  give  glad  welcome  to  the  organization  which  is  doing  such  good  work 
for  the  betterment  of  our  municipal  government. 
"  By  order  of  the  Board, 

"  JAMES  F.  BUCKNER,  JR., 
"  Superintendent  and  Secretary" 

The  following  telegram  is  of  great  interest  and  great  encouragement : 

"NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  May  7,  1896. 

"  The  Citizens'  League,  organized  by  the  young  men  of  New  Orleans, 
congratulates  the  National  Municipal  League  on  the  fact  that  the  splendid 
victory  achieved  in  New  Orleans  was  won  on  the  true  lines  of  reform  as 
laid  down  by  your  body. 

'•CHARLES  JANVIER, 

"President. 
'•WALKER  B.  SPENCER, 

"Secretary" 

I  have  a  letter  which  is  equally  interesting  and  encouraging,  coming 
from  another  section  of  the  country.  It  is  from  Mr.  Joseph  T.  Ailing, 
President  of  the  Good  Government  Club,  Rochester,  N.  Y.  It  is  as  follows  : 

"MAY  6,  1896. 

"  It  is  with  regret  that  I  write,  because  I  had  hoped  to  be  present  at 
your  Convention,  as  well  as  to  have  our  city  represented  by  a  number  of  our 
good  government  men,  as  well  as  by  our  new  Mayor.  Pressure  of  official 
business  prevents  him  from  attending,  and  the  pressure  of  private  affairs 
keeps  the  rest  of  us  at  home. 

"  You  doubtless  know  that  we  won  a  substantial  victory  in  Rochester 
last  fall.  Since  the  new  Mayor  and  some  reform  Aldermen  went  into  office 
the  financial  affairs  of  the  city  have  been  shown  to  be  in  even  worse  con- 
dition than  we  stated  last  year,  though  at  the  time  we  made  our  statements 
we  were  fiercely  assailed  by  the  partisan  press  as  theorists  and  liars.  The 
course  of  events  and  the  conduct  of  our  new  officials  are  amply  justifying 
the  good  government  movement  of  '95,  and  I  confidently  look  for  the 
development  of  a  public  opinion  which  will  place  Rochester  unreservedly 
in  the  hands  of  the  municipal  reform  element  inside  of  two  years,  although 
no  city  in  the  state  has  been  more  completely  in  the  hands  of  the  machine 
than  has  Rochester. 

"  We  received  our  impulse  to  this  movement  from  the  reports  of  simi- 
lar work  accomplished,  or  attempted,  in  other  cities,  and  it  is  for  the  sake 
of  mutual  encouragement  that  I  write  at  this  time.  Our  Mayor  is  giving  us 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  21 

a  strictly  non-partisan  administration.  The  Civil  Service  rules  are  being 
rigidly  enforced,  and  we  have  much  to  encourage,  and  comparatively  little 
to  discourage  us.  Of  course  the  machine  will  die  hard  and  struggle  des- 
perately, but  it  looks  to  me  as  though  success  were  almost  assured. 

"Yours  very  truly, 

'•JOSEPH  T.  ALLING, 
"President,  Good  Government  Club,  Rochester,  N.  Y" 

The  following  letters  are  of  sufficient  interest  to  warrant  their  reading 
as  a  part  of  these  proceedings.  One  is  from  Hon.  Alfred  R.  Conkling, 
formerly  a  member  of  the  New  York  Legislature ;  the  other  from  J.  Richard 
Freud,  Secretary  of  the  Merchants'  Association  of  San  Francisco. 

"NEW  YORK,  April  14,  1896. 

"  I  sail  for  Europe  to-morrow  and  hence  shall  not  be  able  to  attend 
the  Fourth  National  Conference  for  Good  City  Government  at  Baltimore 
next  month.  I  am  very  glad  that  Baltimore  has  been  chosen  for  this 
Conference.  The  good  citizens  of  Baltimore  have  risen  above  party  and 
driven  the  ring  out  of  power,  but  now  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Alder- 
men of  both  parties  oppose  the  reform  Mayor  and  prevent  necessary 
municipal  reforms. 

"  I  have  read  that  a  bill  to  compel  voters  to  write  their  names  upon 
registration  has  been  reported  favorably  to  the  Maryland  Legislature.  It 
may  have  passed  both  houses  at  the  time  of  the  present  writing.  I  com- 
mend this  bill  to  the  friends  of  good  government  in  all  states,  for  it  is  my  firm 
and  growing  conviction  that  all  reform,  and  especially  municipal  reform,  must 
commence  at  the  ballot  box.  I  made  this  statement  at  the  Conference  one 
year  ago,  and  I  have  since  then  received  evidence  of  its  truth.  The  com- 
ing year  will  witness  a  presidential  contest ;  party  lines  will  be  drawn,  and 
good  government  club  men  can  do  little  more  than  enforce  the  election 
law.  Let  me  suggest  that  all  friends  of  good  government  should  work  for 
the  welfare  of  city,  state  and  nation  by  enforcing  the  registration  laws  and 
election  laws.  In  the  city  of  New  York  the  friends  of  honest  elections 
were  never  able  to  obtain  enough  watchers  to  enforce  the  election  law 
until  the  good  government  club  men  in  both  political  parties  manned  the 
polls  in  1894.  The  result  was  that  a  fair  election  took  place,  while  in  the 
lower  wards  of  the  city  in  the  preceding  year  the  so-called  election  was 
simply  a  carnival  of  crime  and  corruption. 

"  Regretting  that  my  absence  in  Europe  will  prevent  my  attendance, 
J  remain,  Yours  faithfully, 

"ALFRED  R.  CONKLING." 


22  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 


"MAY  2,  1896. 

"DEAR  SIR: — The  great  distance  of  San  Francisco  from  Baltimore 
renders  it  impossible  to  have  a  representation  of  this  Association  present 
at  the  Second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  National  Municipal  League.  The 
programme,  as  received,  comprises  addresses  upon  a  number  of  subjects  of 
vital  importance  to  municipal  progress.  No  doubt  they  will  be  treated  in 
a  masterly  way  by  the  eminent  citizens  announced  in  the  programme.  It 
is  needless  to  express  to  you  the  deep  interest  of  this  Association  in  these 
significant  topics.  The  Board  of  Directors  heartily  tenders  you  its  sincere 
wishes  for  the  success  of  the  Conference  and  its  fruitful  results.  We  hope 
you  will  soon  forward  to  us  a  copy  of  the  proceedings. 

"  No  city  in  the  Union  needs  municipal  reform  more  than  San  Fran- 
cisco. A  change  of  systems  here  is  most  necessary.  The  present  govern- 
ment of  San  Francisco  consists  of  a  consolidation  act  passed  by  the  legis- 
lature of  the  state  in  1856 — forty  years  ago.  It  is  a  piece  of  special  legis- 
lation handed  down  for  the  government  of  the  city.  It  has  become  obso- 
lete, defective  and  irresponsible.  A  new  charter  has  been  framed  in 
accordance  with  the  constitution  of  the  state,  and  will  be  voted  upon  by  the 
people  of  the  city  on  November  3d  of  this  year.  Considerable  interest  in 
this  charter  is  already  manifest,  and  it  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped  that  the 
people  will  ratify  it  by  a  large  majority.  It  will  then  have  to  be  approved 
by  the  next  legislature  of  the  state.  If  ratified  and  approved,  it  will  go 
into  effect  in  July,  1897.  If  not  approved  by  the  legislature  before  April, 
1897,  it  will  not  go  into  effect  until  January,  1899. 

"  This  new  charter  as  a  whole  is  a  very  creditable  organic  law.  Most 
of  it  has  been  taken  from  the  charters  of  other  progressive  cities.  Notably 
its  articles  upon  Civil  Service  and  Public  Works  and  Centralization  of  Power 
are  almost  copied  from  the  new  charters  of  progressive  Eastern  cities. 

"  In  conclusion,  permit  us  again,  on  behalf  of  this  Association,  to  wish 
the  National  Municipal  League  success  in  its  endeavors  and  that  its  benefi- 
cent efforts  may  reach  every  municipality  in  the  United  States. 
"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  MERCHANTS'  ASSOCIATION, 

"J.  RICHARDS  FREUD,  "  F.  W.  DOHRMANN, 

"  Secretary"  "President" 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Before  we  separate  Mr.  Bonaparte  will  make  an  an- 
nouncement in  reference  to  the  dinner  to-night,  and  then  the  meeting  will 
adjourn. 

MR.  BONAPARTE  :  We  trust  all  the  delegates  to  the  Convention  have 
accepted  the  invitation,  which  we  had  the  honor  to  tender  them,  of  meeting 
those  of  the  local  League  who  have  been  deemed  worthy  to  take  part  ia 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


the  festivities  this  evening,  at  half-past  seven  o'clock,  at  the  Hotel  Rennert. 
The  test  of  worthiness  is  such  as  to  insure  you  a  creditable  company,  I 
hope,  and  all  that  is  needed  is  that  we  shall  have  a  full  attendance  among 
those  who  have  favored  the  city  with  their  presence  on  this  occasion.  We 
trust  to  see  you  there  punctually  at  half-past  seven  this  evening. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  I  would  like  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  some 
civil  service  reform  literature  has  been  placed  here  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Civil  Service  Reform  League  for  distribution. 

The  Conference  then  adjourned. 


Friday,  May  8,  1896,  zo  A.  M. 

President  Carter  in  the  Chair. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  The  audience  is  not  very  large,  possibly  having 
been  detained  by  the  festivities  of  last  evening,  and  we  must  make  some 
allowance  on  that  account.  As  our  friend,  Mr.  Holls,  has  to  take  an  early 
train  for  New  York  he  prefers  to  read  his  paper  now,  without  waiting  for 
a  larger  gathering.  The  Chair  now  has  the  pleasure  of  introducing 
Frederick  William  Holls,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  and  the  audience  will  have 
the  pleasure  of  listening  to  his  paper  on  "  State  Boards  of  Municipal  Con- 
trol." 

Mr.  Holls  read  a  paper  on  "State  Boards  of  Municipal  Control." 
(See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT:  The  next  paper  will  be  on  "The  Reform  of  Our 
Municipal  Councils,"  by  Henry  W.  Williams,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore. 

Mr.  Williams  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Reform  of  Our  Municipal  Coun- 
cils." (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  Upon  the  question  whether  we  shall  have  one  or 
two  legislative  chambers  two  papers  have  been  prepared.  One  by  Mr. 
Samuel  B.  Capen  and  one  by  Mr.  John  A.  Butler.  Mr.  Capen  is  not 
present. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  We  have  his  paper,  and  I  move,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Capen  cannot  be  present,  that  his  paper  be  received  and  printed 
as  part  of  the  proceedings. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  Now  we  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  Mr.  John 
A.  Butler,  President  of  the  Milwaukee  Municipal  League. 

MR.  BUTLER  :  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  you  have  heard  that  Mr.  Capen 
is  not  present.  To  answer  his  argument,  therefore,  is  something  like  strik- 
ing in  the  air.  But,  happily,  I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  we  are 
gathered  together,  not  so  much  to  defend  this  idea  or  that  idea,  as  to  search 


24  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 

for  the  truth,  to  get  at  the  truth  by  comparison  of  views  rather  than  to  stand 
absolutely  for  this  or  that  view. 

Mr.  Butler  read  a  paper  on  "  Shall  We  Have  One  or  Two  Legislative 
Chambers  ?"  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  The  next  subject  which  is  to  engage  our  attention  is 
"The  Necessity  of  Excluding  Politics  from  Municipal  Business."  The 
best  lesson  we  can  have  upon  that  subject  is  to  witness  Colonel  Waring's 
own  work  in  the  city  of  New  York.  (Applause).  It  is  only  the  next  best 
that  we  can  hear  from  the  lips  of  the  man  himself. 

Colonel  Waring  then  spoke  on  "  The  Necessity  of  Excluding  Politics 
from  Municipal  Business."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  Dr.  Albert  G.  Lawson,  who  is  to  read  a  paper  on 
"  The  Christian  Citizenship  League,"  is  obliged  very  soon  to  leave  town. 
Therefore  his  paper  will  now  be  read. 

DR.  LAWSON  :  It  is  said  that  variety  is  the  spice  of  life.  If  you  will 
pardon  me  the  introduction  of  a  single  sentence,  I  will  say  that  thirty-five 
years  of  my  life,  from  boyhood  up,  were  spent  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn. 
I  can,  therefore,  appreciate  very  heartily  the  statement  of  facts  which  Col. 
Waring  has  just  presented  to  us,  and  the  statement  which  our  worthy 
president  made  the  other  night,  for  from  the  time  I  was  eight  years  old  up 
to  the  time  I  became  forty-five  I  had  never  seen  New  York  City  without 
the  miserable  trucks,  carts  and  drays  strung  along  everywhere  on  every 
street  until  everybody  supposed  that  that  had  always  been  so  and  must 
always  continue  to  be  so,  and  that  there  could  be  no  alteration.  We  are 
certainly  very  grateful  to  Col.  Waring  for  the  condition  of  things  we  find 
now. 

Dr.  Lawson  read  a  paper  on  "A  Christian  Citizenship  League."     (See 
Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT:  We  are  going  to  finish  our  programme  at  this  sit- 
ting. The  paper  on  "The  Municipal  Condition  of  Albany,"  by  Mayor 
Thacher,  of  Albany,  is  not  to  be  read,  for  he  is  not  here.  Neither  is 
Mr.  Dennison,  of  the  Springfield  Republican,  present  to  read  his  paper  on 
"  The  Municipal  Condition  of  Springfield,"  but  the  paper  itself  is  so 
interesting  that  it  will  be  read  by  the  Secretary. 

THE  SECRETARY:  Last  year  I  had  the  pleasure  of  reading  what  I 
considered  one  of  the  most  interesting  papers  of  the  Conference,  that  of 
Mr.  Strong  on  "  The  Municipal  Condition  pf  Portland,  Oregon."  Those 
of  you  who  were  present,  and  those  who  have  read  the  Proceedings,  will 
recall  that  he  described  the  condition  of  a  typical  Northwestern  city  of 
nearly  pure  American  stock.  This  year  it  has  been  a  pleasure  to  have 
sent  to  me  by  Mr.  Denison,  for  reading  in  his  place,  a  paper  which  I 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  25 

think  will  prove  as  interesting  as  any  we  have  heard,  to  wit,  a  paper  on 
"The  Municipal  Condition  of  Springfield,  Mass." 

The  Secretary  read  Mr.  Denison's  paper  on  "  The  Municipal  Condi- 
tion of  Springfield."  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  That  closes,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  reading  of 
papers  for  this  Conference.  Mr.  Bonaparte  has  some  announcements  to 
make. 

MR.  BONAPARTE  :  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  first  announcement  I 
wish  to  make  is  merely  in  the  nature  of  a  reminder  that  one  of  the  exer- 
cises of  this  Conference  still  remains  to  attract  our  attention — namely,  the 
lunch  offered  to  the  delegates  at  one  o'clock.  We  trust  that  it  will  not 
suffer  from  the  somewhat  unexpected  brevity  of  some  of  the  proceedings 
this  morning. 

The  second  announcement  more  particularly  interests  the  members  of 
the  Executive  Committee.  There  is  considerable  business,  some  of  it  of  a 
certain  importance,  awaiting  that  Committee.  The  Committee  will  meet 
for  purposes  of  organization  and  also  to  attend  to  the  business  referred  to 
punctually  at  two  o'clock  to-day  in  this  room.  I  believe  that  the  rep- 
resentatives of  some  of  the  affiliated  organizations  are  anxious  to  obtain 
the  next  meeting  of  this  League  next  year  for  their  cities.  If  there  are 
any  of  those  delegates  present  the  Committee  would  like  to  have  them  at- 
tend this  meeting  at  two  o'clock  for  the  purpose  of  consultation  as  to  the 
next  place  for  the  annual  meeting,  although  it  is  possible,  and  indeed  prob- 
able, that  the  Committee  may  not  finally  decide  that  question  at  this 
meeting. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  I  desire  to  move  that  the  paper  of  James  W.  Pryor, 
Esq.,  of  the  City  Club  of  New  York,  on  the  question  "  Should  Municipal 
Legislators  Receive  a  Salary  ?  "  and  that  of  the  Hon.  John  Boyd  Thacher, 
Mayor  of  Albany,  on  "  The  Municipal  Condition  of  Albany,"  be  printed 
as  part  of  the  proceedings. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to.     (See  Appendix). 

PROF.  GEORGE  L.  Fox,  of  New  Haven :  Mr.  President,  I  am  not  a 
delegate,  but  a  very  interested  visitor,  and  wish  to  make  an  inquiry  for  a 
moment  if  the  time  is  opportune.  According  to  the  programme  two  papers 
were  to  have  been  read  upon  the  question,  "  Shall  we  have  One  or  Two 
Legislative  Chambers  ?"  Unfortunately,  that  prepared  by  Mr.  Samuel  B. 
Capen,  President  of  the  Boston  Municipal  League,  has  not  been  read,  and 
we  have  only  heard  one  side  of  the  question,  in  the  paper  presented  by- 
Mr.  John  A.  Butler,  President  of  the  Milwaukee  Municipal  League.  It  is 
my  duty  to  lecture  before  the  graduating  class  of  Yale,  and  I  have  in  my 
lectures  advocated  the  single  chamber  system,  in  which  I  am  largely  sup- 


26  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 

ported  by  writers  on  good  government.  The  paper  read  by  Mr.  Butler 
advocates  the  bi-cameral  system.  On  that  question  I  may  be  hetero- 
dox of  the  worst  sort.  In  that  position,  however,  I  may  say  that  the 
experience  of  all  the  leading  cities  of  Europe,  except  the  city  of  London, 
is  with  me.  But  I  should  like  very  much  to  hear  Mr.  Capen's  paper. 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  The  paper  prepared  by  Mr.  Capen,  taking  the  other 
side  of  the  question  from  that  read  by  Mr.  Butler,  will  now  be  read  by  Mr. 
Bonaparte. 

MR.  BONAPARTE  :  Mr.  President,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  must  say  in 
advance  of  reading  this  paper  that  the  defects  of  form  in  its  reading  must 
be  laid  upon  the  reader  and  not  upon  the  writer. 

Mr.  Bonaparte  read  Mr.  Capen's  paper  on  "  Shall  We  Have  One  or 
Two  Legislative  Chambers  ?  "  (See  Appendix). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  We  have  still  some  twenty  minutes  or  more  for  dis- 
cussion upon  this  subject.  The  delegates  will  be  very  glad  to  hear  from 
Professor  Fox,  of  New  Haven. 

PROFESSOR  Fox  :  Mr.  President,  attending  this  Convention  for  the  first 
time,  and  not  being  a  delegate  from  any  organization,  although  a  member 
of  the  Good  Government  Club,  of  New  Haven,  I  feel  some  hesitation  in 
speaking.  Yet  I  feel  that  I  am  speaking  on  the  right  side,  and  I  will  try 
to  be  as  brief  and  to  put  my  points  as  forcibly  as  possible.  I  do  not  need 
to  tell  Mr.  Butler,  who  knows  me  of  old,  but  I  may  need  to  tell  the  rest  of 
the  audience,  that  while  I  seem  somewhat  brusque  in  manner  I  am  not  so ; 
it  is  simply  my  habit.  I  believe  plain  words  are  the  best. 

Some  of  the  facts  I  wish  to  have  brought  out  against  Mr.  Butler's 
paper  were  brought  out  in  Mr.  Capen's  paper,  especially  as  regards  the 
preponderance  of  experience  abroad  being  almost  entirely  against  the  con- 
tention of  Mr.  Butler.  I  may  also  add  that  the  same  thing  is,  to  a  large 
degree,  true  of  America.  That  fact  was  brought  out  by  Dr.  Lewis  S.  Janes 
in  his  book  on  the  "Problems  of  City  Government."  He  is  a  man  who 
always  goes  to  the  root  of  the  subject.  He  got  returns  from  almost  all  of 
the  cities  of  the  United  States,  and  he  proved,  I  think,  that  there  were  two 
hundred  and  fifty  city  governments  with  a  single  chamber  and  less  than 
one  hundred  that  had  a  double  chamber  in  their  legislative  bodies.  So 
that  if  we  are  to  establish  a  legislative  body  of  two  chambers  we  are  to  act, 
not  only  contrary  to  the  experience  of  Europe,  which,  as  Mr.  Capen  said, 
ought  to  be  far  more  valuable  than  our  own,  but  also  contrary  to  the  expe- 
rience of  America. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  trend  of  feeling  among  advocates  of  municipal 
reform  in  this  country  is  against  the  double  chamber,  notwithstanding  Mr. 
Butler  quoted  numerous  authorities  in  favor  of  the  bi-cameral  system.  In 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


the  State  of  New  York  there  is  but  one  municipal  legislative  body  with  two 
chambers,  Buffalo  ;  whereas,  there  are  thirty-nine  cities  with  single  cham- 
bers. I  may  point  also  to  the  fact  that  the  newer  charters  for  cities  in 
Massachusetts,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  provide  for  a  single  chamber.  There 
has  recently  been  passed  a  charter  for  North  Adams  which  has  many 
admirable  features,  like  the  referendum  system,  and  that  and  the  Fitchburg 
charter,  and  if  I  am  not  mistaken  the  Holyoke  charter,  all  provide  for  a 
single  chamber. 

In  New  Haven  we  have  quite  a  composite  charter..  I  will  not  say 
this  is  a  good  one,  nor  will  I  say  that  our  city  government  is  bad.  We  had 
on  the  commission  a  man  who  was  my  predecessor  as  lecturer  on  munic- 
ipal government  at  Yale,  and  another,  an  active  politician,  who  would 
possibly  be  called  a  spoilsman.  The  first  was  a  high-minded  citizen  who 
had  made  a  careful  study  of  the  subject.  They  corresponded  with  many 
cities,  and  finally  recommended  a  charter  for  one  department.  That 
charter  was  ratified  by  the  citizens,  and  was  ratified  at  one  time  by  the 
common  council,  but  afterward  when  it  became  Republican  the  vote  was 
against  it,  and  it  was  rejected  by  the  legislature.  But  that  charter  was 
strongly  in  favor  of  the  single  chamber.  So  that  I  say  the  single  chamber 
is  favored  by  the  best  public  opinion  on  the  subject. 

I  will  allude  to  the  fact  that  there  was  in  New  York  a  commission 
created  to  draft  charters  for  cities  of  the  second  class,  namely,  between 
fifty  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  for  cities  of  the 
third  class,  of  less  than  fifty  thousand,  and  that  commission  reported  dis- 
tinctly in  favor  of  the  single  chamber.  Mr.  Butler  says  in  effect  that  if  we 
do  not  take  the  view  he  holds  we  are  going  to  fall  into  one  of  the  radical 
errors  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Bryce  ;  he  contends  that  we  must  follow 
the  analogy  of  the  double  chamber  in  the  national  legislature.  But 
the  analogy  does  not  hold,  because  the  work  of  the  municipal  body  is 
mainly  executive,  while  that  of  the  national  legislature  is  legislative  entirely. 
That  is  proved  by  the  records  of  the  City  of  Boston,  which  show,  by  the 
revision  of  1890,  that  four  pages  cover  the  amount  of  legislation  done  by 
that  body  in  four  years,  outside  of  budget  making. 

The  trouble  with  this  bi-cameral  system  is  that  it  is  a  delusion  and  a 
snare  to  think  that  one  body  acts  as  a  check  upon  the  other.  If  political 
motives  prevail,  they  work  together.  For  instance,  -the  Republicans  have 
had  control  of  the  municipal  council  of  New  Haven,  year  after  year,  for 
many  years,  and  their  work  performed  on  the  spoils  basis,  I  am  sorry  to 
say.  They  have  the  election  of  the  sealer  of  weights  and  measures,  which 
is  quite  a  tidbit  to  them.  In  that  election  they  act  together  ;  so  that  you 
cannot  hold  either  responsible. 


28  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 

The  focusing  of  responsibility  is  the  salvation  of  municipal  reform. 
This  is  illustrated  by  the  course  of  action  adopted  by  two  great  corpora- 
tions in  our  city.  It  goes  all  through  their  business.  They  say  to  their 
agents,  "We  will  give  you  the  raw  product,  or  the  product  at  a  certain  stage 
of  progress,  and  you  must  produce  certain  things ;  if  you  do  not  hand  us 
back  a  certain  amount  of  the  finished  product  you  must  pay."  That  is 
responsibility.  Therefore  the  contractor  is  careful.  The  advantage  of  a 
single  chamber  is  that  it  focuses  responsibility.  It  is  a  delusion  and  a 
snare,  in  my  opinion,  to  think  that  we  must  have  these  so-called  checks 
and  balances. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  trouble  is  that  so  many  people  see  the  small 
things  connected  with  municipal  reform,  and  do  not  see  the  great  ones. 
This  is  illustrated  by  conversation  with  Mr.  Collamer,  once  a  Senator  from 
Vermont.  And  I  do  not  tell  this  out  of  any  disrespect  for  the  Senator  who 
succeeded  Mr.  Collamer,  for  I  esteem  him  highly.  I  mean  Senator 
Edmunds.  In  former  times  he  was  the  "  coming  man."  One  of  his  con- 
stituents came  up  to  the  retiring  Senator,  Mr.  Collamer,  and  said  :  "  Don't 
you  think  Mr.  Edmunds  is  a  very  smart  man  ;  a  very  acute  man  ?  "  "  Yes, 
he  is  a  very  smart  man  ;  he  is  a  very  acute  man.  He  can  see  a  fly  on  a 
barndoor  a  mile  off,  but  he  can't  see  the  barn."  (Laughter). 

That  is  the  trouble  in  some  of  our  discussions  of  this  matter.  My 
friend,  Mr.  Butler,  speaks  of  the  town  meeting.  There  is  no  better 
example  of  responsibility.  In  that  case  there  is  no  division  of  responsi- 
bility. That  is  the  single  chamber,  and  that  is  what  we  want. 

Let  me  illustrate  again.  I  am  a  schoolmaster,  and  so  I  know  possi- 
bly more  about  this  than  some  others.  Mr.  Sanders  is  a  cripple,  who  fol- 
lows the  business  of  "  cramming  men  "  for  the  universities,  and  is  quite 
successful.  I  asked  a  friend  of  his  how  it  was.  The  friend  replied  :  "  He 
takes  the  best  men  he  can  get,  and  then  for  about  three  months  before  the 
examination  comes  off  he  continues  his  '  cramming.'  He  calls  them  in 
and  says  :  '  How  is  this  man  getting  on  ? '"  The  reply  is  :  "  He  is  not  get- 
ting on  so  very  well."  Then  he  asks  of  another :  "  How  is  he  getting 
on?"  The  reply  is  :  "  He  is  doing  better."  "  Do  you  think  he  will  get 
in  ?"  "I  don't  think  so."  Then  he  says  :  "  He  will  either  go  in  or  you 
will  go  out."  That  sounds  tyrannical,  but  that  is  the  true  business  principle 
in  administration.  (Applause). 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  Is  any  one  prepared  to  take  up  the  cudgel  on  the 
other  side  ? 

MR.  C.  E.  RUMSEY,  of  Pittsburg :  I  would  like  to  say  a  word  on  both 
sides. 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  We  should  like  to  hear  from  both  sides. 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  29 

MR.  RUMSEY  :  I  did  not  come  here  as  a  one-sided  man,  but  I  have 
shown  my  interest  in  these  proceedings  by  listening  to  every  paper  that  has 
been  read.  I  find  myself  now  very  much  in  the  position  as  regards 
charters  of  the  Irishman  in  the  restaurant,  who  said  to  the  waiter :  "  If  that 
is  coffee  bring  me  tay  ;  and  if  it  is  tay  bring  me  coffee."  (Laughter).  It 
seems  to  me,  from  listening  to  these  papers,  that  the  cities  that  have  had 
one  kind  of  charter  in  the  past  invariably  asks  for  the  other  kind  for  the 
future. 

What  does  that  show  ?  Just  as  was  said  last  night,  the  question  is  not 
in  the  law,  but  in  the  men.  The  corporations  which  are  organized  for 
profit  are  all  organized  under  one  law.  What  is  the  effect  ?  What  do  we 
see  ?  All  acting  under  the  same  law,  created  by  the  same  law,  some  going 
to  prosperity  and  some  to  perdition.  (Laughter).  It  seems  to  me,  after 
listening  to  these  papers,  that  I  find  myself  upon  both  sides  of  the  charter 
question. 

I  came  here  hoping  for  new  ideas  for  the  charter  for  the  city  of  Pitts- 
burg,  so  that  I  could  go  back  there  and  advocate  in  our  Municipal  League 
some  concentration  of  the  wisdom  of  this  Conference.  And  yet  what  can 
I  say,  when  the  very  charter  that  is  advocated  by  some  gentlemen  is  an 
absolute  failure  in  another  city  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  I  must  go  home  and 
advocate  a  little  of  each.  As  I  take  this  matter,  still  undigested,  it  takes 
this  shape  in  my  mind :  That  the  best  form  of  government  for  the  city  of 
Pittsburg,  where  we  now  have  two  chambers,  is  a  charter  which  shall  give 
one  chamber,  with  a  representative  from  each  ward,  and  another  chamber, 
which  shall  be  elected  at  large,  thus  endeavoring  to  get  the  balance  be- 
tween the  two.  It  would  not  necessarily  follow  that  a  city  desiring  one 
chamber  must  adopt  this,  but  that  a  city  which  now  has  two  might  secure  a 
less  radical  charter  by  having  one  branch,  very  much  as  it  is  now,  to  be  bal- 
anced or  checked  by  another  chamber  created  on  a  different  system. 
Therefore,  I  have  talked  upon  both  sides  of  this  question. 

MR.  FRANK  N.  HARTWELL,  of  Louisville  :  In  Louisville  we  are  work- 
ing under  a  reform  charter,  a  charter  formulated  after  a  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  charters  of  various  other  cities,  and  we  have  always  had  the  two 
chambers.  We  have  twelve  aldermen  elected  from  and  by  the  people  at 
large,  and  we  have  a  representation  of  two  councilmen  from  each  ward, 
making  twenty-four  councilmen  and  twelve  aldermen.  The  purpose  of 
that  charter  was  to  accomplish  the  main  point  under  discussion  at  our 
various  Conferences,  namely,  the  localization  of  responsibility  and  the 
placing  of  the  executive  power,  so  far  as  possible,  in  the  hands  of  the 
Mayor. 

We  have  had  a  practical  working  of  that  charter  for  a  year  or  two,  but 


3O  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 


we  find  that  good  as  the  principle  of  the  law  may  be,  the  stumbling-block 
comes  in  the  shape  of  the  men.  Recently  we  have  had  a  great  landslide 
in  Kentucky,  of  which  the  papers  have  frequently  spoken.  Being  dis- 
gusted with  Democratic  domination  throughout  the  state,  the  people  finally 
turned  out  the  Democrats  and  put  the  Republicans  in.  We  had  a  Mayor 
to  serve  an  unexpired  term  of  two  years,  who  was  a  Democrat,  with  a  Re- 
publican Council  to  contend  with.  The  Good  City  Government  Club  had 
exerted  some  influence  in  the  community  and  at  the  polls,  and  in  defer- 
ence to  the  sentiment  largely  created  by  us  the  Democratic  committee  very 
kindly  consented  not  to  make  any  nominations.  The  Republicans  had 
always  decried  the  folly  and  unwisdom  of  drawing  party  lines,  but  the 
minute  they  saw  the  opportunity  to  get  in  they  drew  the  party  lines  very 
tightly,  and  by  a  coalition  with  the  A.  P.  A.  element  the  Republicans  went 
into  power.  The  Democratic  Mayor  died.  When  the  Republicans  went 
in  they  did  so  by  virtue  of  their  promises  that  we  should  receive  a  great 
many  reforms.  In  the  first  place,  there  were  a  lot  of  men  who  were  un- 
known and  inexperienced,  and  largely,  perhaps,  by  reason  of  that  fact  they 
meant  to  do  in  the  Council  the  things  which  we  thought  they  ought  to  do ; 
but  as  they  got  a  little  more  experienced  the  rows  came  in  their  own  camp. 
When  the  Democratic  Mayor  died  it  devolved  upon  the  Republican  Council 
to  elect  his  successor,  which  they  proceeded  to  do.  Then  came  the  fac- 
tions, showing  their  hands,  the  A.  P.  A.  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  old-line 
Republicans  on  the  other.  And  although  the  A.  P.  A.'s  put  the  Republi- 
cans in,  the  Republicans  had  no  use  for  them  when  it  came  to  a  division  of 
the  spoils. 

So  the  result  was  that  they  placed  in  office  a  business 'man,  a  plain, 
modest,  unassuming  man,  in  whom  we  all  had  confidence.  But  our  Mayor 
wanted  to  say  who  should  be  Senator.  (Laughter).  Having  led  success- 
fully the  State  Republican  forces  so  that  the  Republican  candidate  for 
Governor  was  placed  in  power — and  I,  as  a  Democrat,  helped  to  elect  him 
— that  was  practically  his  first  figuring  in  politics  on  a  large  scale.  But 
when  it  was  Hunter  vs.  Blackburn,  and  Hunter  was  the  Mayor's  man,  the 
Mayor  was  against  the  other  Republicans  who  wanted  some  other  man, 
and  history  tells  us  that  we  got  no  Senator  through  the  scramble.  Not 
satisfied  with  that,  the  Governor  wants  to  be  President.  (Laughter).  The 
Mayor  did  not  want  him  to  be  President.  (Laughter).  So  the  Mayor 
fought  the  Governor,  and  he  fought  the  Senator,  and  the  fight  continues  all 
around.  (Laughter). 

Now,  we  thought  we  had  the  power  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Mayor 
to  control  the  executive  departments  of  the  city,  and  with  that  end  in  view 
the  new  charter  provided  for  what  was  called  the  executive  boards,  a  com- 
mittee on  public  works,  and  a  committee  on  public  safety,  each  composed 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  3! 

of  three  members.  When  the  Mayor  gets  in,  the  charter  provides  that  he 
can  remove  these  committee  officers  for  cause.  He  can  then  put  men  of 
his  liking  in.  But  these  officials  were  Democrats,  and  the  Democrats  had 
given  up  everything  except  these  few.  They  tried  to  screw  up  their  courage 
to  contest  that  provision  of  the  charter.  So  these  men  have  had  lawyers 
come  to  their  rescue  and  they  get  back  to  the  constitutional  requirements, 
and  get  out  an  injunction  against  the  Mayor,  and  the  matter  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  higher  court. 

Yet  we  are  working  there  under  a  charter  which  practically  provides 
all  the  safeguards  necessary  to  be  provided  in  the  form  of  a  charter. 

One  point  more.  We  found  when  this  new  Council  came  in  and  when 
the  two  chambers  went  into  legislative  session  that  they  had  first  held  their 
caucuses,  and  those  men  in  secret  session  had  decided  what  to  do  so  that 
it  would  not  have  made  any  difference  if  there  had  been  a  dozen  boards ; 
they  were  one  board  practically. 

My  attention  has  never  been  drawn  so  carefully  to  this  point  as  since 
hearing  the  discussion  here  on  both  sides  of  the  question.  But  I  am  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  there  are  so  many  cities  where  one  board  obtains.  I 
am  satisfied,  however,  from  our  experience  that  one  board  would  do,  because 
after  we  get  right  back  to  the  main  issue  it  depends  upon  the  Chief  Execu- 
tive or  the  men  composing  the  legislative  body.  It  seems  to  me  that  one 
board,  composed  of  the  right  kind  of  men,  can  accomplish  just  the  same 
ends  that  two  boards  can.  (Applause). 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Before  the  final  adjournment  Mr.  Richardson  has 
some  observations  to  make. 

MR.  CHARLES  RICHARDSON,  of  Philadelphia  :  Mr.  President,  we  desire 
to  express  our  profound  appreciation  of  the  kind  and  generous  hospitality 
and  the  unceasing  care,  kindness  and  courtesy  which  we  have  been  privi- 
leged to  receive  in  this  beautiful  city.  I  think  its  welcome,  its  hospitality 
and  its  courtesy  will  be  a  perpetual  source  of  recollection,  and  will  be  a 
perpetual  source  of  refreshment  and  encouragement — an  evergreen  spot  in 
our  memory  in  the  years  to  come.  I  should  like  to  offer  the  following  res- 
olution : 

Resolved,  That  the  sincere  thanks  of  the  delegates  to  this  Conference 
are  tendered  to  the  organizations  and  citizens  of  Baltimore,  by  whom  we 
have  been  so  warmly  welcomed,  so  hospitably  entertained  and  so  greatly 
helped  and  encouraged  for  our  future  work. 

The  motion  was  unanimously  adopted. 

MR.  BONAPARTE  :  Mr.  President,  I  do  not  know  exactly  why  I  assume 
continually  the  office  of  speaking  for  the  organizations  that  have  enter- 
tained the  League.  It  is  partly,  and  probably  principally,  because  I  have 
done  none  of  the  work,  and,  consequently,  the  work  has  been  well  done. 


32  BALTIMORE   CONFERENCE 


(Laughter).  But  I  take  great  pleasure,  on  their  part,  in  assuring  the  dele- 
gates that  they  have  conferred  a  greater  benefit  upon  us  than  probably 
most  of  us — or,  at  least,  some — know.  I  am  satisfied  that  few  among  the 
local  reformers  can  have  failed  to  derive  direct  and  practical  profit  as  well 
as  encouragement  from  the  meetings  of  the  League. 

As  a  mere  example,  I  will  suggest  what  occurred  to  me  but  a  moment 
ago.  We  have  been  engaged  in  this  city  in  attempting  to  sustain  our 
Mayor  in  a  controversy  with  our  City  Council.  I  may  mention — if  a  very 
brief  digression  at  this  point  does  not  alarm  the  audience — that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  City  Council,  or  the  spokesmen  on  their  behalf,  pointed  out  dur- 
ing that  controversy  that,  inasmuch  as  it  was  very  generally  understood  by 
municipal  reformers  that  the  City  Council  stood  in  the  relation  of  directors 
to  a  corporation,  they  wanted  the  Mayor  to  occupy  the  same  relation  to 
them  that  the  president  of  a  railroad  corporation  occupied  to  his  directors ; 
and  they  asked  what  would  be  thought  of  the  president  of  a  railroad  cor- 
poration who  was  constantly  on  bad  terms  with  the  directory  ?  The  con- 
tingency that  the  president  might  have  to  deal  with  directors  who  were 
thinking,  not  of  advancing  the  prosperity  of  the  railroad,  but  of  simply 
filling  their  own  pockets,  or  the  substantial  equivalent  thereof,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  road,  has  not  been  so  often  realized  in  corporate  management 
as  it  has  been  in  municipal.  (Applause). 

But  what  I  was  about  to  say  was,  that  we  have  been  endeavoring,  with 
perhaps  more  zeal  than  success,  to  sustain  the  Mayor  in  that  contest,  and 
my  friend,  Mr.  Hartwell,  suggested  to  me  a  moment  ago  a  method  which 
I  am  satisfied  had  occurred  to  none  of  us  before.  I  am  sure  that,  if  in- 
stead of  holding  the  meeting  we  did,  although  it  was  well  attended,  en- 
thusiastic and  addressed  by  persons  (with  one  exception)  worthy  to  be 
heard ;  if,  instead  of  doing  that  we  had  held  a  german  in  this  room,  and 
made  him  the  apex  of  the  figure  the  inspiriting  effect  would  have  been  be- 
yond all  measure  greater.  (Laughter). 

And  now,  as  the  last  acknowledgment,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  I  can  make 
on  behalf  of  the  reform  organizations  of  the  city,  we  ask  the  delegates  to 
pay  us  the  compliment  of  seeing  whether  the  lunch  of  to-day  is  of  such  a 
character  that,  if  they  had  had  experience  as  to  its  merits,  they  could  still 
have  voted  unanimously  the  resolution  of  thanks.  (Laughter).  I  there- 
fore invite  you  to  lunch. 

THE  PRESIDENT  :  Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  accepting  very  cordially 
the  invitation  of  Mr.  Bonaparte  to  lunch,  which  I  hope  will  be  as  good  as  it 
was  yesterday — and  that  certainly  was  delightful — our  meeting  stands  ad- 
journed, looking  forward,  as  ^  do,  with  the  greatest  pleasure  to  the  next 
annual  Conference.  (Applause). 


MINUTES 

OF  THE 

Second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Board  of  Delegates 

OF  THE 

NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE, 

HELD  IN 

BALTIMORE,  MD. 


Thursday,  May  7,  1896,  p.jo  A.  M. 

The  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Delegates  was  called  to  order  by  the 
First  Vice-President,  Mr.  Charles  Richardson. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  The  first  business  in  order,  I  believe,  is  the  reading 
of  the  Treasurer's  Report. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  Before  that  is  done,  I  suggest  that  the  minutes  of  the 
last  annual  meeting,  which  have  been  printed  in  connection  with  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Cleveland  Conference,  be  formally  approved.  They  have 
been  sent  to  all  the  members  of  the  League  and,  therefore,  there  is  no 
necessity  of  reading  them.  If  any  change  is  desired  to  be  made  in  them, 
it  can  be  made,  otherwise  they  will  stand  approved. 

The  question  was  put  as  to  the  approval  of  the  minutes  of  the  last 
meeting  and  the  minutes  were  approved. 

(33) 


34  SECOND   ANNUAL   MEETING 


Mr.  George  Burnham,  Jr.,  then  read  the  Treasurer's  Report,  as  follows  : 
REPORT  OF  TREASURER,  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE. 
January  19,  1895,  to  May  2,  1896. 

Receipts. 
Balance  received  from  former  Treasurer,  January  19,  1895  .  .   .     $404  78 

Contributions 710  oo 

Membership  dues 1,175  oo 

Sales  sundry  pamphlets 39  5° 

Sales  M.  &  C.  Proceedings 363  97 

Total  receipts $2,693  25 

Expenditures. 

M.  &  C.  Proceedings $1,107  44 

General  expenses 1,450  50 

Total  expenditures $2-557  94 

Balance  on  hand 135  31 

$2,693  25 

THE  TREASURER  :  I  think  I  should  call  attention  to  one  feature  of  the 
report.  It  does  not,  perhaps,  look  like  good  business  to  pay  $1107  for 
publishing  a  book  and  only  get  $363  from  the  sales,  but  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  every  member  of  the  League  receives,  gratis,  a  copy  of  the  Pro- 
ceedings. If  that  is  taken  into  account  it  will  be  seen  that  the  publication 
really  pays  for  itself.  The  sales  referred  to  in  the  report  are  sales  to 
libraries  and  individuals  not  members  of  the  League.  As  you  see,  we 
have  pulled  through  financially  fairly  well,  but  it  would  be  very  gratifying 
to  the  Treasurer  and  to  us  all  if  we  could  in  some  way  increase  our  con- 
tributing membership  in  order  to  give  us  more  funds  for  our  educational 
work.  We  could  do  more  good  if  we  had  more  money  to  spend  in  the 
distribution  of  literature. 

On  motion  the  Treasurer's  Report  was  received  and  filed. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  The  next  business  in  order  will  be  the  report  of  the 
Committee  to  suggest  nominations  for  Officers  and  Executive  Committee 
for  the  ensuing  year.  Is  that  Committee  ready  to  report  ? 

MR.  FREDERICK  L.  SIDDONS,  of  Washington:  Mr.  Chairman,  the 
Committee  on  Nominations  have  instructed  me  to  report  the  following  names 
for  officers  of  the  League  for  the  coming  year :  For  President,  James  C. 
Carter,  New  York  ;  First  Vice-President,  Charles  Richardson,  Philadelphia  ; 
Second  Vice-President,  Samuel  B.  Capen,  Boston ;  Third  Vice-President, 
Thomas  N.  Strong,  Portland,  Ore.;  Fourth  Vice-President,  H.  Dickson 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE.  35 

Bruns,  New  Orleans  ;  Fifth  Vice-President,  E.  J.  James,  Chicago,  111. ;  Sec- 
retary, Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff,  Philadelphia  ;  Treasurer,  George  Burnham, 
Jr.,  Philadelphia.  Executive  Committee  :  Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  Baltimore  ; 
Matthew  Hale,  Albany ;  Joseph  A.  Miller,  Providence ;  William  G.  Low, 
Brooklyn ;  Frank  N.  Hartwell,  Louisville ;  Herbert  Welsh,  Philadelphia ; 
George  W.  Ochs,  Chattanooga,  Tenn. ;  Dudley  Tibbits,  Troy ;  and  A.  L. 
Crocker,  Minneapolis. 

A  motion,  duly  seconded,  that  the  Secretary  cast  the  ballot  of  the  dele- 
gates for  the  persons  named  by  the  Nominating  Committee  for  the  respect- 
ive offices  for  the  ensuing  year,  was  made,  and  upon  the  question  being 
put  it  was  decided  in  the  affirmative.  The  Secretary  accordingly  cast  the 
ballot  as  instructed. 

The  Secretary  announced  he  had  cast  a  vote  for  the  following : 

President,  James  C.  Carter,  New  York  ; 
First  Vice-President,  Charles  Richardson,  Philadelphia ; 
Second  Vice-President,  Samuel  B.  Capen,  Boston ; 
Third  Vice-President,  Thomas  N.  Strong,  Portland,  Ore. ; 
Fourth  Vice-President,  H.  Dickson  Bruns,  New  Orleans  ; 
Fifth  Vice-President,  Edmund  J.  James,  Chicago  ; 
Secretary,  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff,  Philadelphia ; 
Treasurer,  George  Burnham,  Jr.,  Philadelphia. 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  Baltimore  ; 
Matthew  Hale,  Albany ; 
Frank  N.  Hartwell,  Louisville  ; 
George  W.  Ochs,  Chattanooga  ; 
William  G.  Low,  Brooklyn  ; 
Herbert  Welsh,  Philadelphia ; 
Dudley  Tibbits,  Troy ; 
Joseph  A.  Miller,  Providence  ; 
A.  L.  Crocker,  Minneapolis. 

These  officers  and  committeemen  were  thereupon  declared  elected  to 
serve  for  the  ensuing  year. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  Mr.  Chairman  and  Delegates,  the  Board  of  Officers 
and  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  National  Municipal  League -just  elected 
represent,  as  you  see,  the  various  sections  of  the  country,  the  Eastern, 
Western,  Northern  and  Southern.  There  are  still,  however,  some  large  and 
important  communities  at  present  unrepresented  on  the  Board  which,  by  rea- 
son of  their  activity  during  the  past  year  especially,  should  be  represented. 
I,  therefore,  move  an  amendment  to  the  present  By-Laws  of  the 


36  SECOND   ANNUAL   MEETING 

National  Municipal  League,  that  the  number  of  the  Executive  Committee 
be  increased  from  nine  to  eleven. 

The  question  being  put,  the  motion  was  decided  in  the  affirmative. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  That  being  adopted  I  will  suggest,  or  make  the 
motion  if  necessary,  that  the  Nominating  Committee  be  requested  to  report 
names  for  the  two  additional  positions  on  the  Executive  Committee. 

The  motion,  duly  seconded,  was  decided  in  the  affirmative. 

THE  SECRETARY  :  While  the  Nominating  Committee  is  selecting  the 
names  for  the  additional  places  on  the  Executive  Committee  I  would  like 
to  read  a  telegram,  which  I  have  just  received  from  New  Orleans,  which  I 
think  will  be  of  interest  to  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Delegates : 

"  The  Citizens'  League,  of  New  Orleans,  organized  by  the  young  men 
of  New  Orleans,  congratulates  the  National  Municipal  League  on  the  fact 
that  the  splendid  victory  achieved  in  New  Orleans  was  won  on  the  true 
lines  of  reform  as  laid  down  by  your  body.  Signed,  Charles  Janvier, 
President;  Walker  B.  Spencer,  Secretary."  (Applause). 

I  have  also  a  supplementary  telegram,  signed  by  Mr.  Walker,  which 
says: 

"  We  regret  that  public  affairs  of  importance,  in  connection  with  our 
recent  victory,  prevent  our  attendance  at  the  Conference." 

I  think  under  the  circumstances  we  will  have  to  excuse  them. 

MR.  BONAPARTE  :  As  we  do  not  wish  to  hurry  the  Nominating  Com- 
mittee in  the  arduous  duties  committed  to  them,  I  will  take  advantage  of 
this  opportunity  to  make  an  announcement,  which  may  be  of  some  interest 
to  some  of  the  delegates  present.  The  place  of  meeting  of  the  National 
Municipal  League  has  always  been  selected  by  the  Executive  Committee, 
and  I  have  had  an  intimation  that  it  is  possible  that  I  may  be  re-elected  to 
the  responsible  and  lucrative  position  which  I  have  held  for  some  little  time 
as  chairman  of  that  Committee.  Assuming  that  the  pipes  which  I  am 
laying  to  that  end  will  make  proper  connection,  I  therefore  announce  in 
advance  that  a  meeting  of  that  Committee  will  undoubtedly  be  held  some 
time  to-morrow.  There  will  hardly  be  an  opportunity  to  hold  it  to-day.  At 
that  meeting  the  gentlemen  from  the  several  cities  who  have  paid  the  League 
the  great  compliment  of  intimating  a  desire  to  have  the  meeting  held  in  their 
respective  cities  next  year,  will  confer  a  favor  upon  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee  by  attending  its  session.  The  hour  of  the  session  and  the  place  will  be 
announced  later. 

MR.  SIDDONS  :  I  am  instructed  by  the  Nominating  Committee  to  re- 
port the  names  of  the  following  gentlemen  as  additional  members  of  the 
Executive  Committee,  viz. :  Judge  E.  J.  Blandin,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and 
Dr.  S.  M.  Newman,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 


NATIONAL   MUNICIPAL    LEAGUE.  37 

It  was  moved  and  seconded  that  the  Secretary  cast  a  vote  for  the  two 
gentlemen  named  as  additional  members  of  the  Executive  Committee  for 
the  ensuing  year. 

On  the  question  being  put  the  motion  was  agreed  to. 

The  Secretary  accordingly  cast  the  ballot  of  the  delegates  for  Hon.  E. 
J.  Blandin,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  Dr.  S.  M.  Newman,  of  Washington, 
D.  C.,  as  additional  members  of  the  Executive  Committee  for  the  ensuing 
year. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  I  know  of  no  further  business  to  come  before  the 
Board  of  Delegates  at  this  meeting.  If  there  is  any  new  business  to  sug- 
gest now  is  the  time  ;  if  not  a  motion  to  adjourn  will  be  in  order. 

It  was  moved  and  seconded  that  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Dele- 
gates adjourn,  and  on  the  question  being  put  the  motion  was  agreed  to,  and 
the  Board  of  Delegates  thereupon  adjourned. 


APPENDIX 


CONTAINING  THE 

PAPERS  READ  BEFORE  THE  BALTIMORE  CONFERENCE 
FOR  GOOD  CITY  GOVERNMENT. 


PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  41 


PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 


JAMES   C.  CARTER,  ESQ.,  NEW  YORK. 


I  must  acknowledge  the  honor  paid  to  the  National  Munic- 
ipal League  by  the  people  of  Baltimore  in  this  large  and  very 
intelligent  gathering.  Personally,  I  am  almost  painfully  sensi- 
ble of  the  honor,  for  it  seems  to  demand  that  sort  of  recognition 
which  can  only  come  from  a  careful  selection  of  thoughts  ap- 
propriate to  the  occasion  and  a  presentation  of  them  in  premedi- 
tated language.  For  this  my  occupations  have  allowed  me  no 
leisure.  I  have  not  had  time  to  commit  my  thoughts  to  paper, 
and  I  must  ask  your  kind  indulgence  for  such  very  imperfect 
effort  as  I  am  able  to  make,  to  lay  before  you  the  purpose  of  the 
League  and  some  of  the  hopes  and  expectations  which  animate 
those  who  are  striving  to  carry  on  its  work. 

We  come  to  Baltimore  this  year  for  many  reasons.  In  the 
first  place,  we  were  not  insensible  to  the  many  attractions  of 
your  beautiful  city.  Baltimore  has  become,  and  is  more  and 
more  becoming,  not  only  a  great  centre  of  commerce  and  trade, 
but  a  centre  of  learning,  education  and  the  arts — a  centre  for  the 
diffusion  of  light  and  knowledge  upon  all  matters  which  most 
interest  our  national  life  and  prosperity.  We  come  in  the  next 
place  because  we  have  been  invited  with  that  cordial  hospitality 
for  which  the  citizens  of  Baltimore  are  distinguished ;  and,  per- 
haps I  may  be  permitted  to  add,  we  came  for  another  reason. 
We  have  heard  at  former  Conferences,  and  we  have  heard  to- 
day, from  the  lips  of  some  of  your  own  citizens,  that  Baltimore 
was  not  altogether  a  stranger  to  those  woes  and  miseries  which 
afflict  the  other  great  cities  of  America ;  and  it  occurred  to  us 
that  perhaps  we  might  find  here  what  is  called  "missionary 
ground  "  where  we  might  sow  some  good  seeds  which  would 
spring  up  and  ripen  for  your,  and  our,  benefit. 

Now,  as  this  is  our  first  visit  to  Baltimore,  I  must  not  as- 


42  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

sume  that  you  are  fully  acquainted  with  the  purpose  and  methods 
which  the  League  has  heretofore  adopted  and  which  it  still  main- 
tains and  practices ;  and,  therefore,  I  must  take  you  back  for  a 
few  moments  to  the  causes  in  which  it  had  its  origin. 

You  are  all  very  well  aware  that  for  many  years,  anterior  to 
a  quite  recent  period,  the  municipal  governments  of  the  cities  of 
America  had  fallen  into  a  very  wretched  condition,  and  that 
comparatively  little  attention  was  paid  to  them  even  by  intel- 
ligent citizens.  The  great  ambitions  of  the  country,  the  ambitions 
of  those  who  aspired  to  places  of  honor  and  responsibility,  were, 
not  unnaturally,  turned  to  the  larger  fields  of  state  and  national 
politics ;  and  the  interest  of  the  citizens  themselves,  always,  with 
us,  greatly  aroused  and  excited  by  political  struggles,  naturally 
followed  their  champions  into  these  larger  arenas.  The  result 
was  that  the  striving  for  municipal  places,  and  the  contests  over 
municipal  questions  seemed,  comparatively  speaking,  petty  and 
unimportant ;  and  the  management  of  them  was  suffered  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  a  few  persons,  not  always  the  most  worthy, 
who  could  find  some  personal  or  political  end  to  gratify  by  en- 
gaging in  them. 

In  this  way,  all  the  offices  of  the  various  cities  of  the  land 
were  occupied  mainly  by  persons  having  some  very  close  con- 
nection with  the  ordinary  business  of  politics,  and,  let  me  say, 
with  the  lower  business  of  politics.  Finally  it  was  found,  as  the 
cities  grew  larger  and  larger,  and  the  revenues  necessary  to 
carry  them  on  greater  and  greater,  that  they  afforded  very  great 
opportunities,  not  only  for  gaining  the  materials  for  political 
advancement,  but  for  actual  pecuniary  rewards;  and  conse- 
quently, these  began  to  be  struggled  for,  and  struggled  for,  as 
you  know,  by  the  persons  who  did  not  have  the  highest  objects 
in  view,  and  generally,  did  not  have  largely  in  view  the  interests 
of  their  fellow-citizens.  The  methods  and  practices,  therefore, 
of  municipal  politics  came  to  be  reduced  to  an  art  and  carried 
to  a  very  high  degree  of  refinement.  That  art  consisted,  in  its 
main  features,  of  forming  alliances  between  persons  who  would 
devote  a  great  part  of  their  lives  to  the  organization  and  con- 


JAMES    C.  CARTER.  43 


solidation  of  cliques  and  factions  in  cities,  and  the  leaders  of  one 
or  the  other  of  the  great  political  parties.  These  alliances  were 
formed  everywhere  and  they  became  closer  and  closer,  better 
and  better  organized.  The  main  understanding  which  was  at 
the  bottom  of  all  of  them  was  that,  if  these  manipulators  of 
municipal  politics  and  municipal  voters  would  devote  their 
attention  to  the  organization  of  the  political  forces  in  the  cities, 
bring  them  together  and  consolidate  them,  so  as  to  be  able 
when  national  or  state  elections  came  to  be  held,  to  throw  them  in 
a  solid  body  to  the  one  side  or  the  other — the  understanding 
always  was,  that  if  success  was  achieved,  these  manipulators 
should  have  at  their  disposal  all  the  patronage,  all  the  places,  all 
the  rewards  which  the  municipalities  could  afford. 

Now,  the  result  of  this  state  of  things  could  not  be  other- 
wise than  very  disastrous.  Its  consequences,  when  our  cities 
were  few  and  the  population  small,  when  our  cities  contained, 
perhaps,  only  five  or  ten  per  cent,  of  our  whole  population,  were 
not  upon  such  a  vast  scale ;  but  when  they  came  to  embrace 
one-half  of  the  whole  population  of  the  land,  when  the  annual 
revenues  for  the  support  of  cities  equalled,  perhaps  surpassed, 
the  annual  revenues  required  for  the  administration  of  the 
general  government,  the  progress  of  this  demoralization,  its  ex- 
tension through  municipal  administration  everywhere,  became 
very  alarming  in  its  actual  evils,  and  still  more  alarming  in  what 
they  threatened.  They  were  not  only  absolutely  inconsistent 
with  good  municipal  administration,  but  they  were  absolutely 
dangerous  even  to  the  existence  and  continuance  of  republican 
institutions. 

I  am  not  going  to  attempt  to  draw  a  picture  of  what  these 
evils  were.  Most  of  you  have  some  personal  knowledge  of 
them,  some  near  acquaintance  with  them,  and  I  have  no  heart  to 
go  over  the  disgusting  details.  I  may,  however,  sum  them  up 
in  a  very  words.  They  were  principally  these : 

In  the  first  place  we  had  everywhere  enormous  taxation,  a 
taxation  which  produced  a  revenue  sufficient,  if  it  were  honestly 
and  wisely  applied,  to  furnish  every  city  in  the  land  with  every 


44  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

possible  comfort  and  convenience,  and  even  to  adorn  them  with 
the  triumphs  of  architecture  and  art.  But  all  this  was,  in  great 
part,  misapplied ;  and  the  consequence  was  we  had  very  little 
return  for  it.  Our  streets  were  miserably  paved  and  everywhere 
in  a  filthy  condition.  The  schools  were  poor ;  the  police  was 
corrupt  from  top  to  bottom  and  in  collusion  with  evil-doers. 
All  departments  of  government  were  affected  by  the  demoraliza- 
tion, and  the  official  force,  from  the  mayor  down,  in  our  princi- 
pal cities,  was  of  a  character  which  we  could  not  exhibit  in  the 
face  of  the  world  without  a  feeling  of  disgrace.  These  were  the 
consequences  which  flowed  from  this  demoralization. 

Now,  some  ten  years  ago,  this  condition  of  things  began  to 
excite,  to  a  much  greater  degree  than  it  had  theretofore,  the 
public  attention.  And  about  four  years  ago  a  small  body  of 
gentlemen  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  much  interested  in  the 
municipal  affairs  of  that  city,  and  willing  to  spend  a  good  deal 
of  time  and  labor  for  their  improvement,  organized  themselves 
into  a  small  body  for  the  purpose  of  making  efforts  to  improve 
the  condition  of  things  there.  They  soon  found  that  the  state 
of  things  in  Philadelphia  was  only  a  repetition  of  what  it  was 
everywhere  else,  and  that  the  same  necessity  for  reform  existed 
in  every  other  city,  and  they  thought  that  it  was  an  opportunity 
— that  it  was  an  occasion — in  which  they  might  derive,  from  the 
aid,  the  sympathy  and  the  support  of  the  friends  of  improvement 
in  other  cities,  that  kind  of  encouragement  and  that  kind  of  help 
which  always  comes  from  united  and  common  efforts.  They, 
therefore,  invited  a  conference  of  the  friends  of  municipal  im- 
provement in  many  other  cities  to  meet  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia. This  was  four  years  ago,  and  the  result  was  the  formation 
of  the  National  Municipal  League.  That  is  the  history  of  our 
origin,  ladies  and  gentlemen. 

Now,  a  few  words  as  to  our  purpose.  Our  first  great  and 
constant  purpose  is  to  arouse  and  awaken  in  the  public  mind 
everywhere  an  interest  in  municipal  government ;  to  expose  the 
abuses  which  municipal  government  is  everywhere  subject  to  and 
which  it  everywhere  exhibits,  and  to  expect  from  that  aroused 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  45 


attention,  those  further  efforts  in  the  various  different  places, 
differing,  as  they  do,  according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  case 
— to  expect  in  each  place  as  a  consequence  of  this  aroused  at- 
tention— active  effort  for  real  amelioration. 

Our  purpose,  therefore,  as  you  see,  is  that  which  must  ani- 
mate every  first  effort  for  reform.  All  such  efforts  begin  in  the 
conviction,  very  deeply  lodged  in  the  breasts  of  a  comparatively 
few,  that  the  evils  are  so  great  and  threatening  that  efforts  to  re- 
move them  must  be  made,  and  the  first  effort  always  is  to  widen 
and  deepen  that  conviction.  That,  therefore,  is  our  main  pur- 
pose. 

In  the  next  place,  and  as  subsidiary  to  that  main  purpose, 
our  aim  has  been  to  induce  the  formation  of  bodies,  more  or  less 
resembling  ours,  in  all  the  considerable  cities  of  the  land,  to  the 
end  that  they  may  awaken  an  interest  in  this  question  of  munic- 
ipal improvement  in  each  city  of  the  land — that  they  may  excite 
an  attention  to  the  question  of  municipal  improvement — lead  to 
its  discussion  everywhere,  and  lead  to  the  discussion  of  the  vari- 
ous remedies  which  may  seem  most  practicable  for  those  evils, 
and  with  the  hope  that  out  of  that  discussion  some  conclusion 
may  be  evolved  which  may  be  of  use  in  the  actual  work  of  re- 
form. 

In  the  next  place  our  purpose  has  been  to  have  annual 
meetings,  and  in  addition  to  them  conferences — meetings  at 
which  delegates  from  all  these  different  associations  should  at- 
tend, and  should  bring  with  them  reports  of  the  condition  of  the 
principal  cities  which  they  represent — at  which  men,  who  have 
given  especial  attention  to  the  various  questions  which  munic- 
ipal reform  involves,  should  read  papers  carefully  prepared,  dis- 
cussing the  evils  and  the  appropriate  remedies ;  and  then  that 
we  should  publish  these  reports  and  these  papers  and  give  them 
a  wide  dissemination  all  over  the  country. 

All  this,  gentlemen,  as  you  will  perceive,  consists  simply  in 
awakening  the  public  attention  and  in  enlightening  the  public 
mind,  in  the  full  confidence  that  when  that  attention  is  thor- 
oughly aroused  and  devoted  to  the  question,  and  when  the 


46  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 


public  mind  is  properly  enlightened,  it  will  need  little  further 
effort  to  induce  the  actual  institution  of  positive  reform. 

In  addition  to  these  principal  objects  we  have  this  further 
one,  viz. :  That  as  a  fruit  of  the  discussions  at  the  annual  confer- 
ences, and  as  the  fruit  of  the  investigations,  the  results  of  which 
will  be  presented  in  these  various  papers,  some  definite  and  solid 
conclusions  may  be  formed,  based  as  much  as  possible  upon 
actual  experience — some  solid  conclusions,  from  which  we  can 
draw  up  and  recommend  a  suitable  plan  of  practical  action. 

Of  course,  when  anybody  observes  an  evil,  especially  a 
political  evil,  some  sort  of  remedy  generally  suggests  itself;  but, 
for  the  most  part,  these  remedies  are,  usually,  ineffectual,  because 
they  are  not  based  on  extensive  information  or  upon  the  results 
of  discussion  and  investigation;  still  less  are  they  based  upon 
the  fruits  of  actual  experience.  They,  therefore,  usually  fail ; 
and  it  is  our  conviction  that  it  is  not  wise  to  adopt  at  an  early 
period  in  our  movement  or  recommend  particular  lines  of  action 
nor  until  we  can  frame  some  which  shall  be  fortified  with  the 
teachings  of  experience  and  by  those  lessons  which  we  can  derive 
from  discussion  and  investigation.  This  much,  Ladies  and  Gen- 
tlemen, for  the  origin  of  our  Association,  the  causes  out  of  which 
it  grew  and  the  purposes  which  it  has  in  view. 

Now,  a  few  words,  as  to  what  we  have  actually  done.  In 
the  first  place  we  have  had  these  conferences  each  year.  This 
is  the  fourth  of  our  conferences  and  the  second  of  our  annual 
meetings  and  the  results  of  those  conferences,  consisting  in 
papers  which  have  been  read,  or  which  have  been  presented — 
reports  from  a  great  many  of  the  larger  cities  of  the  country — 
have  been  extremely  instructive.  I  do  not  think  that  any  dele- 
gate has  ever  attended  one  of  these  conferences  without  feeling 
that  he  has  been  greatly  improved  in  his  general  comprehension 
of  the  subject,  and  greatly  improved  in  his  capability  of  suggest- 
ing remedies  which  should  be,  more  or  less,  applicable  to  the 
particular  place  in  which  he  happened  to  reside. 

In  the  next  place  as  to  the  formation  of  affiliated  associa- 
tions. That  work  has  proceeded  with  a  rapidity  which  none 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  47 


of  us  imagined  at  first.  It  has  not  been  in  consequence  of 
any  particular  solicitation  on  our  part.  We  have  sent  out  no 
agents.  We  have  sent  out  no  missionaries  to  form  societies  in 
this  city  or  in  that,  but  the  fact  of  our  existence — the  objects  of 
our  existence  and  our  annual  meetings — have  become  known, 
and  that  knowledge  has  been  received  in  the  various  cities  of 
the  country  and  has  stimulated  the  formation  of  similar  organi- 
zations there,  and  the  consequence  is,  that  there  are  now,  as 
some  of  you  have  learned  from  the  report  of  the  Secretary  to- 
day, over  two  hundred  and  fifty  societies — separate  municipal 
organizations — in  the  various  cities  of  the  country,  all  having 
substantially  the  same  object  which  we  have  in  view. 

In  the  next  place  we  have  printed  two  volumes  of  our  pro- 
ceedings, containing  the  various  reports  that  have  been  made, 
the  papers  which  have  been  read,  and  the  addresses  which  have 
been  delivered.  They  constitute,  we  think,  a  valuable  mine  of 
information,  now  resorted  to  by  all  persons  who  are  making 
municipal  affairs  the  subject  of  study,  resorted  to  by  those  who 
are  endeavoring  to  bring  about  improvements  in  particular  cities 
and,  indeed,  by  all  who  are  interested  in  the  great  question 
of  municipal  government. 

Nor,  has  the  benefit  or  advantage  by  any  means  stopped 
there.  Since  our  first  meeting,  since  the  formation  of  this 
League — I  will  not  say  solely  in  consequence  of  the  formation 
of  the  League — that  would  be  too  much — but,  I  think,  I  can 
say  without  any  sort  of  exaggeration  that  since  the  forma- 
tion of  the  League,  and  in  very  large  measure  in  consequence  of 
the  interest  which  was  stimulated  and  awakened  by  it,  there 
have  been  great  practical  gains  made  in  many  of  the  larger 
cities  of  the  land.  The  enterprise  has  brought  forth,  we  think, 
immediate  fruits,  and  fruits  abundantly  sufficient — more  than 
sufficient — to  repay  all  the  labor  that  has  been  expended. 

Let  me  refer,  for  an  instant,  to  the  reforms  which  have  taken 
place  in  many  of  our  principal  cities.  Take  the  city  of  Boston 
for  instance.  There,  a  very  large  interest  has  been  felt  in  the 
question,  and  very  active  societies,  in  communication  with  our 


48  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

own,  have  been  established  with  a  very  decided  effect  upon  the 
municipal  condition.  They  have  induced  amendments  upon  the 
largest  scale  to  the  charter  of  the  city  of  Boston.  They  have 
disseminated  in  that  city  and  implanted  deeply  in  the  minds  of 
the  citizens  the  truth,  that  in  this  matter  of  the  administration  of 
our  municipal  affairs  national  and  state  politics  must  be  put 
aside,  and  that  the  men  who  are  to  be  put  in  office,  of  whatever 
party,  must  be  men  most  capable  and  most  disposed  to  admin- 
ister faithfully  the  great  trusts  which  are  reposed  in  them. 

Take  the  city  of  Chicago.  I  suppose,  naturally  enough, 
considering  the  prodigiously  rapid  growth  of  that  great  metrop- 
olis, the  city  of  Chicago  has  struggled  under  difficulties  prob- 
ably greater  even  than  those  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the 
extent  of  misgovernment  of  that  city,  the  extent  to  which  the 
public  cause,  the  public  revenues,  the  public  utility  have  all 
been  prostituted — I  won't  say  at  the  foot  of  party,  but  infinitely 
worse  than  that — prostituted  at  the  foot  of  faction,  of  personal 
ambition  and  of  private  gain  almost  exceeds  belief. 

Now,  a  year  ago,  the  people  of  that  city  made  an  effort  in 
a  direction,  greatly  encouraged  by  us,  and  which  constitutes  one 
of  the  chief  avenues  through  which  we  hope  to  gain  the  benefits 
which  we  have  in  view.  The  people  of  Chicago  undertook, 
under  a  law  of  that  state,  to  give  to  the  city  the  benefits  of  civil 
service  reform,  to  have  a  system  of  appointment  to  office, 
founded  upon  merit,  and  merit  alone,  established,  a  thing  which 
they  had  the  right  to  do  and  the  power  to  do  if  they  could  only 
gain  a  majority  at  a  popular  election  in  favor  of  it.  Stimulated 
by  the  rising  tide  of  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  municipal  reform, 
feeling  the  force  of  the  universal  conviction  which  was  every- 
where spreading,  the  good  citizens  of  Chicago  addressed  them- 
selves resolutely  to  that  cause,  and,  as  you  are  aware,  a  year  ago 
they  carried  an  election  upon  the  question  whether  civil  service 
reform  should  be  adopted  in  the  government  of  the  city  by  a 
majority  of  some  fifty  thousand  votes.  That  is  an  achievement 
worth  having.  That  is  an  achievement  worth  remembering  and 
worth  recording.  It  is  not  ours,  but  we  have  helped  to  win  it. 


JAMES   C.    CARTER.  49 


Take  the  city  of  New  York,  my  own  city.  All  of  you 
know,  of  course,  the  wretched  condition  in  which  the  municipal 
government  of  New  York  has  been  for  many  years  sunk  and 
was,  until  a  comparatively  recent  period.  An  election  came  on 
in  the  year  1894  for  the  office  of  mayor,  and  inasmuch  as  in  the 
city  of  New  York  the  mayor  has  the  appointment  of  nearly  every 
important  officer,  the  appointment  even  of  the  great  heads  of  de- 
partments, those  who  have  control  over  the  whole  business  of 
some  particular  part  of  the  administration  of  the  city,  such  as 
the  Department  of  Public  Works,  the  Department  of  Police,  the 
Department  of  Street  Cleaning  or  the  Department  of  Health, 
he  has  in  his  hands  the  power  to  affect  for  good  or  evil  the 
whole  administration  of  the  city,  and  this  enables  the  citizens  of 
New  York,  if  they  will,  at  one  stroke,  by  the  election  of  a  proper 
man  for  mayor,  to  reform  the  whole  city  administration.  The 
people  of  the  city  of  New  York  had  become  aroused  as  they 
never  were  before,  upon  this  municipal  question.  Stimulated  in 
great  part  by  such  organizations  as  the  City  Club,  over  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  preside,  and  which  was  engaged  in  constant 
efforts  to  array  and  unite  the  citizens  in  one  body  upon  ques- 
tions like  this — taking  advantage  of  that  state  of  feeling,  a  union 
was  invited  between  all  organizations,  political  or  reform,  which 
were  opposed  to  the  corrupt  regime  which  had  theretofore  dom- 
inated in  the  city— I  mean  Tammany  Hall — and  finally  brought 
about  upon  one  set  of  candidates,  and  although  Tammany  Hall 
had  usually  carried  the  city  of  New  York  by  a  majority  of  sixty 
thousand  or  seventy  thousand,  yet  through  this  union  of  forces, 
the  people  turned  out  and  scattered  to  the  wind  that  corrupt 
organization  by  a  majority  of  more  than  fifty  thousand. 

Now,  I  must  ask  your  attention  for  a  moment  to  what  was 
accomplished  by  that  single  effort,  not  a  perfect  one  by  any 
manner  of  means.  It  was  not  a  union  between  honest  and  true 
men,  all  of  them  having  the  prosperity  and  welfare  of  the  city 
alone  for  their  motive.  It  was  not  quite  that.  It  was  a  union 
of  the  Republican  party,  of  one  portion — one  faction — of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  other  factions  in  the  Democratic  party — 


5O  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

a  union  of  men,  many  of  whom  were  not  at  all  in  favor  of  munic- 
ipal reform,  but  who,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  some  success, 
which  they  otherwise  could  not  get,  were  driven  into  uniting  in 
.  that  movement.  It  is  always  a  great  disadvantage  to  an  officer, 
like  a  mayor,  to  have  been  elected  by  a  combination  such  as 
that.  He  cannot  quite  feel  that  he  has  the  moral  power  behind 
him  proportionate  to  the  majority  that  pushes  him  in.  He 
knows  the  materials  of  which  it  is  composed.  He  knows  the 
expectations  which  some  of  them  entertain  and  it  is  not  in 
human  nature  to  altogether  disappoint  expectations  which  have 
been  thus  raised.  Therefore,  whatever  shortcomings  there  may 
have  been  in  the  administration  of  Colonel  Strong,  the  present 
mayor  of  New  York,  and  there  have  been  many,  I  think  they 
are  all  to  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  the  people  who  elected 
him  were  a  combination  composed  of,  in  some  respects,  rather 
inconsistent  elements.  I  attribute  them  to  that  and  not  to  the 
man  himself,  who  is  one  of  the  best  and  truest  of  men.  But  in 
most  respects  he  has  done  excellently  well,  and  placed,  for  the 
most  part,  at  the  heads  of  the  principal  departments  of  the  city 
government  men  whose  only  motive  was  honest  administration 
of  their  trust. 

Take  the  Department  of  Street  Cleaning  for  instance.  Why 
those  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  going  to  the  city  of  New 
York  in  times  past  and  visit  it  now,  must  see  at  once  that  the 
face  of  the  city  is  changed,  absolutely  changed,  in  the  period  of 
one  year.  Prior  to  that  time  three-fourths  of  the  space  in  the 
streets  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city  were  occupied  every  night 
and  all  day  Sunday  as  a  common  storehouse — a  stabling  place 
for  an  innumerable  multitude  of  carriages,  wagons,  carts  and  all 
manner  of  encumbrances,  gathering  filth  wherever  they  were, 
and  encouraging  the  most  vicious  practices  everywhere.  But 
that  thing  had  existed  in  the  city  of  New  York  as  long  as  I  can 
remember  and  very  many  years  longer.  Complaint  has  been  made 
of  it  a  thousand  times.  Law  after  law  has  been  passed  making 
it  unlawful  for  those  encumbrances  to  remain  in  the  street,  and 
yet  there  they  have  remained.  Why?  Because  you  could 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  51 


never  get  an  administration  into  power  that  had  not  sought 
for  the  aid  and  support  of  the  owners  of  those  vehicles  and 
encumbrances,  and,  of  course,  under  implied  promise  that  they 
should  not  be  molested.  Mayor  Strong  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  street  cleaning  department  a  very  efficient  man,  whom,  per- 
haps,  you  will  hear  here  to-morrow,  Colonel  Waring.  He  had 
made  no  promises  to  any  one.  He  was  no  politician  bargaining 
with  the  leaders  of  a  national  party  for  future  support.  He  was 
a  man  free  to  do  his  duty,  who  had  an  ideal  before  him  how  his- 
duty  should  be  discharged  and  meant  to  reach  it,  and  those  en- 
cumbrances went  out  of  the  streets  straightway,  and  to-day  you 
can  go  from  one  end  of  the  city  of  New  York  to  the  other  and 
not  find  one.  The  streets  once  clear  of  encumbrances,  the  busi- 
ness of  cleaning  them  commenced  and  the  streets  of  New  York 
to-day  are  as  sweet  and  wholesome  as  your  own  door  yards. 

Now  there  is  the  gain  made  at  one  single  election  by  the 
triumph  of  ihe  principle  of  municipal  reform;  only  an  example 
and  illustration  of  what  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  citizens  of  any 
city  in  this  country  to  do  at  any  moment  by  a  simple  combina- 
tion, for  their  united  strength  is  sufficient  to  accomplish  any- 
thing they  desire. 

Take  the  old  department  of  police  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
Before,  it  was  in  league  everywhere  with  the  violators  of  the 
law.  Nobody,  I  may  say,  was  punished  for  violating  the  laws — I 
mean  the  smaller  laws — they  were  not  all  of  them  very  small  either, 
or  unimportant — but  nobody  was  punished  for  such  violations  if 
he  had  influence  enough,  or  hold  enough,  or,  to  use  the  vulgar 
word,  pull  enough  upon  the  power  in  existence.  But  the  honest 
man,  who  would  not  descend  to  such  methods,  felt  the  full  force 
of  the  law  until  he  was  crushed  -into  subserviency.  That  was 
the  condition  of  the  police  of  a  great  city.  Formed  for  secur- 
ing order,  established  to  enforce  the  law,  they  were  everywhere 
in  collusion  with  the  violators  of  the  law.  There  are  at  the  head 
of  that  body  now  men  of  courage,  men  of  energy,  men  deter- 
mined to  do  their  duty,  struggling  under  the  greatest  difficulties> 
for  they  cannot  dismiss  this  great  body  of  police ;  they  cannot 


52  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

at  once  reform  it.  The  work  is  slow,  but  still  the  improvement 
has  been  begun,  has  been  rapidly  advancing  and  is  now  every- 
where manifest.  And  so  on  in  nearly  all  the  departments  there 
is  great  improvement,  although  it  is  not  so  marked  as  in  these 
departments. 

Now  here  is  a  great  municipal  triumph,  won  against  the 
most  powerfully-organized  political  municipal  machine  anywhere 
in  the  United  States,  won  without  any  very  great  effort,  won 
simply  by  successful  attempts  to  unite  the  people  of  the  city,  the 
honest  people  of  the  city,  those  who  desire  nothing  but  better 
government,  in  one  body  for  the  purpose  of  reform. 

In  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  also,  very  great  progress  has 
been  made,  which  has  been  detailed  here  to-day.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  city  of  Calves,  ton,  in  Texas,  and  in  many  of  the  great 
cities  in  the  West ;  and,  I  may  say,  that  there  are  none  of  the 
large  cities  in  which  there  have  not  been  improvements,  to  some 
moderate  extent,  as  a  consequence  of  the  awakened  interest 
which  we  are  engaged  in  exciting  and  arousing.  So  much  for 
what  we  have  done. 

Now  as  to  what  our  purposes  in  the  future  are.  They  have 
not  at  all  changed.  They  remain  as  they  were.  Our  main  pur- 
pose is  still  to  continue  to  arouse  the  public  interest,  to  still 
widen  and  deepen  the  conviction  that  our  municipal  mischiefs 
should  be  and  can  be  remedied ;  to  induce  everybody,  who  is 
well  disposed,  to  give  their  efforts  to  this  good  cause.  That  is 
still  our  mam  object  and  purpose.  These  annual  meetings  we 
still  find  as  useful  as  before.  We  are  gathering  together  line 
after  line  and  line  upon  line,  the  fruits  of  the  experience  of  dif- 
ferent cities,  and  the  results,  as  heretofore,  will  still  continue  to 
be  published  and  receive  wide  circulation  and  dissemination  all 
over  the  land.  We  have,  I  think,  as  the  fruit  of  discussion 
among  ourselves,  and  in  consequence  of  the  unanimous  voice 
which  comes  to  us  in  the  reports  from  every  city  detailing  mu- 
nicipal mischiefs  and  the  origin  of  them — we  have,  in  conse- 
quence of  these  unanimous  reports  from  every  quarter — finally 
come  to  the  conviction  that  the  root  of  the  whole  trouble  lies  in 


JAMES    C.  CARTER.  53 


the  close  alliance,  of  which  I  have  before  spoken,  between  the 
leaders  of  the  state  and  national  parties  and  the  manipulators  of 
the  municipal  votes.  There  is  the  root  of  the  disorder,  and  con- 
sequently we  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  true  line  of 
action  to  be  adopted  everywhere,  at  some  time  or  other,  accord- 
ing to  the  circumstances,  which  may  differ  in  each  case — that 
the  true  line  of  action  is  to  banish,  absolutely  banish,  from  state 
and  national  politics  the  whole  subject  of  municipal  affairs. 
They  have,  in  truth,  no  connection  with  each  other  whatever, 
none  whatever.  Municipal  politics  have  no  connection  with,  or 
relation  to  state  or  national  politics,  nor  have  state  or  national 
politics  any  relation  to  municipal  politics.  What  difference  is  it, 
let  me  ask,  whether  the  man  who  paves  and  sweeps  your  streets 
is  a  Democrat  or  a  Republican  ?  What  difference,  let  me  ask, 
is  it,  whether  the  man  who  superintends  your  schools  is  in  favor 
of  Free  Trade  or  in  favor  of  Protection  ?  What  difference  is  it, 
whether  the  mayor  who  presides  over  your  whole  municipal 
administration  believes  in  this  particular  national  doctrine  or  in 
that  ?  Every  one  must  see — no  one  can  deny — that  state  and 
national  politics  have  no  proper  concern  with  municipal  affairs, 
and  that  they  are  drawn  into  municipal  affairs  only  for  the  pur- 
poses of  mischief.  The  fault  is  not  altogether  that  of  the  munic- 
ipal spoilsman.  The  fault  lies,  I  regret  to  say,  among  men  of  a 
higher  class,  who  ought  to  have  higher  purposes.  I  must  be 
allowed  to  express  the  belief  that  what  we  call  the  great  states- 
men of  our  country  are  largely  at  fault  in  this  matter.  Those 
who  aspire  to  be  Governors,  Senators  and  Representatives  in 
Congress,  and  even  Presidents,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  are  found  sub- 
servient to  the  great  municipal  bosses.  They  feel  that  their 
election,  their  advancement,  their  progress,  the  success  of  their 
ambitions,  depend  upon  whether  they  can  obtain  the  aid  of  this 
man  and  of  that  man,  and  consequently  they  do  not  scruple  to 
receive  that  aid,  and  they  can  never  receive  it  except  upon  con- 
dition of  rewarding  it.  No  man  can  receive  the  aid  of  what  he 
knows  to  be  a  corrupt  political  boss — no  man  aspiring  for  the 
office  of  President,  Governor  or  Senator  can  go  to  such  men 


54  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 


and  ask  for  their  assistance  without  entering  into  a  tacit  contract 
with  them  to  return  the  favor.  Therefore,  I  say  that  one  of  our 
efforts  should  be  in  effecting  this  separation  between  national 
and  state  and  municipal  politics  to  make  it  known,  to  make  it 
widely  known,  that  we  want  no  man  in  the  high  places  of  honor 
who  seeks  to  obtain  it  upon  conditions  like  those.  Those  men 
best  deserve  our  elevation  to  those  high  places  who  are  unwill- 
ing to  accept  them  under  such  degrading  conditions. 

Now,  therefore,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  you  will  see  that 
this  separation  between  municipal  administration  and  state  and 
national  politics  is  not  useful  simply  and  alone  to  the  munic- 
ipalities. Its  utility,  its  advantage  and  its  blessing  would  be 
experienced  equally  by  the  great  political  parties  themselves. 
What  is  the  reason  now  when  a  party  obtains  a  national  success 
and  has  seated  its  president  in  the  chair,  and  has  a  majority  in 
both  houses  of  congress,  that  it  is  not  able,  as  it  often  is  not 
able,  to  pass  even  those  fundamental  measures  which  are  the 
great  features  of  its  policy?  It  is  because  there  are  found 
among  its  ranks  men  who  are  unfaithful  even  to  their  party 
ideas.  And  why  are  they  unfaithful  to  partisan  principles  ? 
Because  they  were  unworthy  men  in  the  first  place,  and  because, 
in  the  next  place,  they  have  other  obligations  which  they  have 
come  under  in  order  to  get  into  the  places  which  they  hold. 
Once  separate  municipal  politics  from  partisan  affairs,  remove  them 
entirely  beyond  their  control,  persuade  or  command  the  great 
political  parties  to  make  no  municipal  nominations,  as  they 
ought  never  to  make  them — once  persuade  them  to  do  this  and 
the  v/hole  political  atmosphere  in  state  and  national  politics, 
itself,  is  purified.  An  immense  advantage  is  gained  there.  I 
need  not  tell  you  how  great  the  advantages  would  be  to  the 
municipalities  themselves.  They  would  be  rid  almost  altogether 
of  the  spoilsmen,  these  men  who  pass  their  lives  in  learning  the 
various  arts  by  which  votes  are  brought  out,  as  they  say,  which 
sometimes  means  how  votes  should  be  manufactured,  or  how 
votes  should  be  counted  without  being  cast.  All  such  men  who 
practice  these  arts  for  a  livelihood  would  be  dismissed.  Munic- 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  55 


ipal  contests  would  take  place  upon  municipal  questions.  When 
candidates  were  nominated  they  would  be  nominated  by  reason 
of  their  supposed  greater  familiarity,  greater  mastery,  greater 
capability,  in  respect  to  municipal  affairs.  And  we  see  that 
when  any  real  improvement  is  made  that  this  is  in  this  way. 
We  see  when  any  real  improvement  is  actually  effected  it  is 
always  effected  by  dismissing  partisan  considerations.  It  was  so 
in  New  York.  Partisan  considerations  were  subordinated,  and 
then  we  gained,  not  all  we  wished,  but  a  great  part  of  what  we 
wished ;  and  so  it  is  everywhere.  All  these  political  changes 
which  result  in  these  improvements  come  from  an  appeal  to  the 
non-partisan  sentiment  of  the  people. 

Now,  that  is  one  conviction  which  I  think  the  Municipal 
League  has  firmly  settled  in  its  own  mind,  that  here  is  the  root 
of  the  evil,  and  here  is  the  place  to  apply  the  remedy.  There  is 
one  other  principal  remedy  which  goes  hand  in  hand  with  that 
separation — is,  indeed,  almost  part  of  it — and  that  is  the  merit 
system  in  appointments.  You  will  see,  of  course,  how  effective, 
how  deeply  effective  that  is. 

In  the  first  place  when  men  are  appointed  to  office  for  merit 
alone,  the  advantage  you  gain  is  not  simply  in  having  a  faithful 
man  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  who  has  no  other  ob- 
ject in  view — that  is  not  the  only  advantage.  You  have  gotten 
rid  of  a  man  who  was  there  before,  not  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  his  office,  but  to  prostitute  them  for  the  benefit  of  the  party ; 
and  in  the  next  place  you  have  taken  from  the  machine  man- 
agers, in  a  very  large  measure,  their  means  of  support.  What 
they  have  lived  upon  heretofore  is  the  promises  they  have  been 
able  to  make  that,  in  case  of  success,  this  and  that  office  should 
go  to  that  man  and  his  followers  and  heelers,  and  this  other 
office  to  this  man,  and  his  followers  and  heelers.  They  have 
now  no  longer  those  places  within  their  disposition.  The  occu- 
pants are  to  be  determined  by  merit  alone,  and  there  again  you 
have  hit  the  common  enemy  a  most  effective  blow.  So,  even  if 
\ve  could  get  no  further,  by  adopting,  wherever  we  can,  the  merit 


56  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

system  in  making  appointments  we  shall  have  achieved  a  most 
decided  advantage. 

In  connection  with  this  separation  of  municipal  affairs  from 
general  politics  the  question  arises,  what  are  we  going  to  do  in 
times  of  elections  ?  We  say,  take  national  and  state  politics  out 
of  the  way ;  but  suppose  state  and  national  parties  will  not  be 
taken  out  of  the  way,  what  are  you  going  to  do  ?  Well,  there 
are  two  things  to  be  done.  In  the  first  place  pay  no  heed  to 
partisan  considerations  at  all.  If  you  have  no  other  choice  than 
that  between  two  candidates,  one  nominated  by  one  party  and 
the  other  by  the  other  political  party,  vote  for  one  or  the  other  ; 
because  to  vote  in  any  other  way  may  be  to  throw  away  your 
vote.  One  may  even  be  prepared  to  do  that,  for  one  may  feel 
sometimes,  I  think,  it  may  be  best  to  lose  the  effect  of  his  vote  -r 
but  vote,  if  you  vote  at  all,  for  the  man  whose  character  and 
whose  antecedents  furnish  you  with  the  best  guarantee  that  he 
will  be  faithful  to  the  trust  committed  to  him,  absolutely,  with- 
out reference  to  the  political  name  by  which  he  is  called.  Count 
that  absolutely  for  nothing !  Let  the  political  leaders  thus 
know  that  if  they  expect  your  support  they  must  put  up  the 
best  men  they  can  find. 

Now,  that  won't  always  work  ;  for  those  political  spoilsmen 
in  the  two  parties  are  all  really  united  together,  as  far  as  we  are 
concerned.  They  really  stand  together ;  it  is  only  when  they 
are  haggling  over  the  offices  that  they  are  divided — but  their 
principles  are  the  same.  They  are  brought  up  in  the  same 
school.  Their  principles  are  the  same,  and  they  would  just  as 
lief  be  on  one  side  as  on  the  other,  but  they  will  always  be  found 
on  that  side  which  furnishes  the  greatest  possibility  of  success. 
They  will  say  to  each  other,  "  You  put  up  your  man  ;  he  may 
be  bad  enough,  but  we  have  one  to  match  with  him.  Let  these 
fellows  who  talk  about  reform  choose  whichever  they  please  ;  if 
they  take  your  man  you  will  get  the  spoils  and  if  they  take  our 
man  we  shall  have  the  spoils."  That  is  a  condition  that  is  fre- 
quently presented  to  us.  In  view  of  that  condition  we  think  it 
is  the  part  of  wisdom  everywhere  for  men  who  believe  in  this 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  57 


separation  of  national  and  state  politics  from  municipal  affairs, 
who  are  struggling  for  municipal  improvement,  to  strive  more 
and  more  for  a  union  between  themselves  upon  their  own 
grounds,  upon  their  own  platform,  with  an  organization  of  their 
own,  to  the  end  that  they  may  nominate  and  elect  their  own  can- 
didates in  defiance  of  both  parties.  That  never  has  been  per- 
manently done  yet  in  this  country.  I  believe  it  will  be  done ;  I 
believe  it  will  be  soon  done  ;  and  I  shall  never  be  satisfied  that 
it  will  fail  as  a  remedy  until  it  has  been  fully  tried. 

We  know  that  the  well-disposed  citizens  are  a  vast  majority 
over  those  who  are  ill-disposed.  We  know  the  problem  would 
be  settled  and  solved  at  once  if  you  could  get  the  good  men  on 
one  side  and  the  bad  men  on  the  other. 

Now,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  these  are  the  views,  these  are 
the  conclusions,  which  the  National  Municipal  League  has,  in 
the  main,  come  to,  I  think,  although  it  has  never  settled  upon 
them  by  any  formal  resolution. 

Now,  citizens  of  Baltimore,  we  have  something  to  ask  of 
you.  You  know  what  that  is.  It  is  to  take  hold  of  this  work 
and  aid  us  ;  or,  if  you  have  already  taken  hold  of  it,  as  you  have, 
to  take  hold  of  it  still  stronger  and  to  aid  us  the  more.  Balti- 
more occupies  a  very  conspicuous  place  among  the  great  cities 
of  the  land,  and  you  hold  and  wield  an  enormous  power  for 
good.  That  power  for  good,  we  hope,  will  be  placed  decidedly, 
emphatically  on  our  side.  We  hope  that  all  of  you,  in  such 
manner  as  may  seem  to  you  best,  not  necessarily  by  joining  the 
Municipal  League,  but  by  joining  efforts  somehow — join  that  if 
you  will — will  do  what  you  may  think  calculated  to  carry  out  the 
same  end.  Put  yourself  in  communication  with  the  great 
awakening  which  is  going  on  all  over  the  country,  and  contribute 
your  part  to  aid  it  and  to  give  it  additional  power.  Begin  to 
labor  for  actual  benefits  in  your  own  city,  another  most  effective 
way  of  aiding  this  reform.  Familiarize  yourself  with  your  city 
government.  Ascertain  how  its  powers  are  distributed  and 
through  what  offices  they  are  exercised.  Acquaint  yourselves 
with  the  names  of  the  men  who  fill  the  offices  and  inform  your- 


58  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 


self  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they  are  discharging  their  duties. 
Keep  close  watch  on  their  conduct.  Denounce  them  if  you 
find  they  are  betraying  their  trust.  Praise  them  for  their  good 
work.  Stand  up  for  them  when  they  are  unjustly  assailed.  In 
other  words,  perform  the  duties  of  good  citizens,  for  all  these 
things  are  embraced  among  the  duties  of  good  citizens. 

We  sometimes  think  this  is  a  narrow  work.  Our  patriotic 
emotions  are  excited  and  aroused  more  easily,  perhaps,  by  ques- 
tions which  affect  national  politics  and  affect  the  interests  of  the 
whole  country,  and  its  relations  with  other  countries,  and  we 
think,  sometimes,  that  this  alone  is  what  is  called  patriotism. 
But  that  is  not  the  true  view,  I  apprehend,  to  take  of  it.  What 
is  patriotism  ?  It  does  not  consist,  as  I  conceive,  in  cursing  for- 
eign nations  and  foreign  peoples,  swearing  that  your  own  people 
and  your  own  country  are  the  best,  the  brightest,  the  bravest 
and  the  handsomest  that  ever  lived.  That  is  not  necessarily 
patriotism.  Patriotism  is  said  to  be,  and  is,  the  love  of  country ; 
but  how  can  that  feeling  be  called  forth  and  stimulated  except 
by  having,  in  the  first  instance,  a  country  to  be  loved.  Make 
your  country  lovable  and  there  will  be  no  difficulty  about  patri- 
otic emotions  arising  in  your  breast.  And  in  what  better  way 
can  you  work  to  make  your  country  lovable  except  by  making 
these  great  cities — that  sometimes  get  to  be  such  blots  upon  the 
fair  face  of  creation — except  by  making  them  the  real  centres  of 
virtue,  intelligence,  charity  and  all  manner  of  usefulness,  as  they 
can  be  and  ought  to  be  made  ? 

Our  work  touches  rather  the  cities  than  the  country.  We 
must  narrow  our  attention  to  these  little  municipalities  ;  if  it  be 
narrowing  them.  There  was  formerly  a  time  in  which  cities 
were  thought  to  be,  as  it  were,  plague  spots,  and  the  country 
was  supposed  to  be  alone  the  residence  of  virtue  and  morality. 
I  remember  an  old  English  poet  once  said, 

"God  the  first  garden  made,  and  the  first  city  Cain." 

Well,  if  that  were  ever  true,  it  has  long  since  ceased  to  be  true. 
Our  cities  are  great  swarms,  great  hives  of  humanity,  and  while 
the  more  vicious  and  degrading  sentiments  are  developed  there, 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  59 


the  higher  and  more  ennobling  sentiments  are  found  there  also, 
and  in  a  vastly  greater  degree  and  in  greater  proportion.  And 
as  our  cities  grow  larger  and  larger,  as  their  affairs  become  larger 
and  larger,  they  may  be  made  more  and  more  the  centres  of 
light  and  goodness,  and  the  salvation  of  the  country  is  more  and 
more  dependent  upon  them. 

This  duty  to  engage  in  the  work  of  municipal  improvement 
is  a  duty  in  which  all  of  us  can  engage  alike,  without  any  dis- 
tinction of  sex  and  without  any  contentions  between  the  sexes 
either.  There  are  some  questions  which  we  never  touch  in  our 
Association,  upon  which  the  sexes  are  supposed  to  be  disunited  ; 
but  upon  the  particular  questions  in  which  we  are  interested, 
there  can  be  none  more  interested,  certainly  none  more  capable 
of  intelligent  action,  than  women.  It  is  their  work  peculiarly. 
They  know  far  better  than  men  what  is  neat,  what  is  tidy,  what 
is  cleanly,  what  is  proper,  what  is  comfortable ;  and  they  can  ap- 
preciate in  the  city  as  well  as  in  their  own  household ;  and  they 
have  a  power  of  action,  if  they  would  only  employ  it,  in  remov- 
ing these  evils,  which  would  be  everywhere  effective  and  decisive 
if  it  were  thoroughly  employed.  I  have  spoken  of  the  advance 
which  street  cleaning  has  made  in  the  city  of  New  York.  We 
all  know  there  how  much  we  are  indebted  to  the  labors  and 
efforts  of  Colonel  Waring ;  but  he,  I  have  no  doubt,  would  be 
the  first  to  declare  that  the  original  impulse  which  has  led  to 
that  great  reformation  was  first  indicated  and  made  effective  by 
one  woman.  Tt  was  her  work.  Not  by  haranguing  audiences, 
not  by  making  herself  especially  conspicuous,  but  by  going  to 
the  men  in  office,  and  out  of  office,  who  had  power  and  influence 
and  persuading  them  of  their  duty  in  the  matter — in  other 
words,  by  making  the  men  ashamed  of  themselves,  which  a 
woman  can  always  do  when  she  tries.  It  was  she  who  pointed 
out  the  measures  necessary  to  be  taken  to  ascertain  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  enterprise  involved  in  the  cleaning  of  the 
streets  in  New  York.  It  was  she  who  compelled  the  men  to  put 
into  the  form  of  law  the  requisite  conditions  for  the  work,  and 
forced  them  through  the  Legislature,  and  who  saw  that  the 


60  PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 


force  was  created,  organized  and  set  in  motion,  which  was  ade- 
quate for  the  purpose. 

And  let  me  say  to  those  who  are  disposed  to  take  hold  of 
this  work  and  give  it  their  aid,  that  when  they  have  once  taken 
hold  of  it,  not  to  set  it  down.  When  your  hand  has  once  been 
put  to  the  plow,  do  not  turn  back.  Do  not  anticipate  too  much, 
for  you  will  be  disappointed.  The  Almighty  has  so  ordered  it 
that,  in  this  world,  all  good  things,  which  come  to  stay,  come 
very  slowly,  and  we  should  be  satisfied  if  there  is  slow  progress 
in  this  reform.  We  shall  not  bring  it  about  next  year,  nor  in 
the  next  five  years,  nor  in  the  next  ten  years.  If  we  bring  it 
about  in  our  lifetime ;  nay,  if  we  make  a  substantial  approach 
to  it  in  our  lifetime,  we  shall  have  done,  I  will  not  say  enough, 
but  we  shall  have  done  enough  to  reward  us  for  all  the  labor  we 
have  expended.  Civilization  advances  slowly.  It  is  for  each 
generation  to  do  its  own  duty,  and  not  to  suffer  a  cause  to  slide 
back,  but  to  put  it  forward  some  steps  and  to  keep  it  there. 
Therefore  do  not  be  dismayed  by  difficulties,  but  take  hold 
in  your  own  city.  Do  not  content  yourselves  with  coming 
to  the  annual  conferences  and  contributing  the  aid  of  speech. 
That  is  all  well  enough  in  its  way,  but  form  active  organizations 
and  conduct  your  fight  in  your  own  city.  You  have  no  con- 
ception of  the  extent  to  which  you  encourage  and  animate 
others  by  the  success  you  may  achieve  here.  We  heard  this 
afternoon — and  I  listened  with  the  greatest  attention  to  it — the 
recital  of  your  recent  struggle  here  by  Mr.  Howard.  It  was 
very  interesting,  and  it  brought  back  to  my  mind  the  interest 
with  which  I  watched  it  while  it  was  going  on.  We  watched  it 
in  the  different  cities ;  we  watched  it,  day  by  day,  and  we  knew 
what  kind  of  a  fight  you  had  to  make.  We  knew  it  was  a 
desperate  struggle.  We  knew  the  chances  were  against  you, 
but  we  hoped  for  success.  We  watched  it  with  something  of 
the  same  emotion  that  your  own  fathers  and  mothers  watched 
that  fight  for  the  fortress  that  guards  the  entrance  to  your  har- 
bor. We  watched  you,  as  they  watched  through  that  night,  and 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  6 1 


when  the  news  of  your  success  came  we  felt  like  breaking  out 
— as  your  fathers  and  mothers  did — 

"'Tis  the  star  spangled  banner,  O  long  may  it  wave." 

If  we  want  encouragement  for  this  work  we  have  only  to 
look  to  history  and  we  see  that  civilization  never  goes  back.  It 
goes  slowly,  sometimes  very  slowly,  indeed.  It  wants  active 
and  affirmative  help,  and  we  can  advance  it  almost  as  rapidly  as 
we  will,  if  we  only  give  it  that  aid ;  but  still,  it  does  not  go  back, 
and  we  need  not  be  afraid  of  that.  The  cause  goes  on.  We 
may  not  observe  its  progress  from  day  to  day,  but  we  can  easily 
see  it  if  we  compare  distant  periods  of  time. 

Take,  for  instance,  this  very  matter  of  the  condition  of  our 
cities.  We  know  what  they  are  now;  but  we  do  not  think 
always  of  what  they  were  once.  London  is  now  thought  to  be 
a  great  and  beautiful  city ;  not  perhaps  what  it  ought  to  be,  but 
still  it  is  so  considered,  and  is,  when  compared  with  what  it  once 
was.  I  remember  two  lines  of  Pope,  which  give  us  a  somewhat 
graphic  picture  of  the  sights  and  smells  which  one  met  with  in 
what  was  the  heart  of  London  something  more  than  one  hun- 
dred years  ago : 

"  To  where  Fleet  ditch  with  disemboguing  streams 
Rolls  its  large  tribute  of  dead  dogs  to  Thames." 

Such  were  the  spectacles  to  be  seen  in  London  at  that  time. 
Well,  you  could  have  seen  the  same  thing  in  many  American 
cities  a  short  time  ago ;  but  we  have  passed  beyond  that  now. 

This  progress  will  never  be  reversed,  but  we  must  carry  it 
forward,  and  carry  it  forward  still  more  rapidly.  For  that  pur- 
pose, Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  we  wish  your  aid.  I  hope  that 
you  will  take  hold  of  it  with  increased  ardor,  animation  and  zeal 
from  this  time ;  and  you  will  allow  me  to  indulge  the  expecta- 
tion that  some  further  effort  in  this  direction,  fruitful  for  good  to 
this  city  and  to  the  other  cities  of  the  land,  will  be  started  here 
and  be  dated  from  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  National  Munic- 
ipal League  in  1896. 


62  A  YEAR'S  WORK  FOR  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 


A  YEAR'S   WORK   FOR   MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 


CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF,  ESQ., 
SECRETARY,  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE. 


A  year  ago  we  took  occasion  to  felicitate  ourselves  upon 
the  great  advance  that  had  been  made  by  the  cause  of  municipal 
reform  during  the  preceding  decade ;  and  especially  since  the 
organization  of  the  National  Municipal  League  at  the  Philadel- 
phia Conference  for  Good  City  Government,  where  the  leading 
workers  of  the  various  local  bodies  met  for  an  exchange  of 
ideas  and  experiences.  At  the  present  meeting  we  may  be  per- 
mitted to  felicitate  ourselves  .  upon  the  fact  that  this  great  cause 
in  which  we,  who  are  here  gathered,  are  specially  interested, 
has  not  only  held  its  own,  but  has  maintained  the  rate  of  pro- 
gression which  a  year  ago  was  regarded,  and  rightly  so,  as 
marvelous  and  unprecedented  in  reform  work. 

It  seems  to  be  settled  definitely  that  the  movement  for  good 
city  government  has  come  to  stay.  For  a  time  it  appeared  to 
many  to  be  of  a  spasmodic  and  temporary  character.  Now, 
however,  that  the  first  stages  have  been  successfully  passed,  and 
the  numerous  organizations  which  sprang  up  with  great  rapidity, 
are  settling  down  to  steady  and  conscientious  endeavor,  we  must 
revise  our  judgment.  We  cannot  escape  the  conclusion  that 
the  necessity  for  municipal  reform  is  so  general,  so  urgent,  so 
emphatic  that  these  reform  bodies,  although  in  many  instances 
hastily  organized,  will  not  retire  from  the  contest.  The  situa- 
tion is  somewhat  analagous  to  that  which  confronted  many  of 
the  regiments  organized  for  three  and  six  months'  service  on 
both  sides  during  the  late  war.  After  the  men  had  once  enlisted, 
they  did  not  care  to  retire  from  the  contest  so  long  as  the  object 


CLINTON    ROGERS    WOODRUFF.  63 

they  sought  was  unattained ;  so  they  continued  in  the  fight  until 
the  end. 

It  is  something  that  the  movement  has  held  its  own.  It 
frequently  occurs  in  the  development  of  great  reforms,  that  a  period 
of  unusual  activity  is  followed  by  one  of  comparative  inactivity. 
The  latter  comes  as  a  natural  reaction.  The  progress  chronicled 
in  our  last  annual  report  was  remarkable  and  quite  without  par- 
allel. It  was  then  noted  that  in  every  section  of  the  country  public- 
spirited  citizens  had  formed  associations  to  combat  municipal 
evils  and  inculcate  higher  standards  of  citizenship.  This  year  it  is 
our  privilege  to  report  that  most  of  these  associations  are  still 
in  more  or  less  active  existence  ;  and  further,  that  there  has  been 
an  increase  of  65  per  cent. 

It  will  prove  of  interest,  no  doubt,  as  well  as  instructive,  to 
compare  the  results  of  an  examination  of  this  year's  roll  with 
those  of  1894  and  1895.  We  are  entirely  dependent  for  our 
figures  upon  the  lists  prepared  by  the  National  Municipal  League, 
which,  however,  are  by  no  means  complete.  In  fact  there  is  a 
much  larger  number  of  bodies  than  we  have  any  record  of;  and 
if  we  err  it  will  be  upon  the  side  of  moderation  and  omission ; 
rather  than  upon  that  of  exaggeration  and  commission. 

Now  as  to  the  figures.  In  the  North  Atlantic  group  in 
1894,  there  were  27  organizations;  in  1895,  79,  and  in  1896, 
121  ;  an  increase  of  451  per  cent,  in  two  years  ;  and  this  despite 
the  fact  that  the  good  citizens  of  New  York  City,  because  of  a 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  minor  details,  permitted  a  division  of 
their  forces  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  and  thereby  enabled  the 
latter  to  gain  a  victory,  which,  although  not  very  rich  in  offices, 
was  of  very  considerable  importance  in  the  way  of  prestige. 
In  the  South  Atlantic  States  there  were  two  organizations  in 
1894,  both  to  be  found  in  one  city  ;  in  1895,  there  were  13,  dis- 
tributed among  three  States;  and  in  1896,  17  in  five  States. 
The  Northern  Central  States  in  1894  had  14  to  their  credit;  in 
^95,  54;  in  1896,  78.  In  the  Southern  Central  States  in  1894, 
there  was  not  a  single  reform  body ;  or  any  organization  devot- 
ing  much  time  or  attention  to  any  phase  of  the  municipal  prob- 


64  A  YEAR'S  WORK  FOR  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 

lem.  In  1895,  however,  there  were  seven,  and  in  1896,  15  asso- 
ciations working  strenuously  for  a  betterment  of  civic  affairs.  In 
the  Western  group  the  one  .of  two  years  ago,  grew  into  the  23 
of  1895,  and  the  36  of  1896. 

New  York  State  still  maintains  its  lead  with  49  organizations, 
with  New  Jersey  following  with  28,  and  Pennsylvania  with  17. 
Ohio  with  15,  Illinois  with  13,  and  Wisconsin  and  California 
with  12  each,  come  next  in  order.  Indiana  and  Colorado  have 
10  each ;  Massachusetts,  Maryland  and  Minnesota,  nine  each. 

Mere  figures,  however  interesting  they  may  be  to  the 
statistically-inclined,  do  not  tell  the  whole  story.  I  should 
far  exceed  my  limit  should  I  attempt  to  describe  the  activities 
and  accomplishments  of  the  267  enrolled  bodies.  It  is  impossi- 
ble even  to  indicate  their  general  scope.  We  must  content  our- 
selves with  a  brief  reference  to  the  more  notable  events  of  the 
year ;  the  achievement  of  the  more  aggressive  bodies,  and  the 
general  outlook.  Mention  of  the  work  of  any  one  or  more  asso- 
ciations must  not  be  taken  as  a  mark  of  invidious  distinction. 

Were  the  time  and  space  at  my  command  nothing  would 
please  me  more  than  to  refer  in  detail  to  what  each  has  done  dur- 
ing the  past  year  to  justify  its  existence  and  to  advance  the  cause 
of  better  methods  and  higher  ideals  ;  but  we  must  leave  to  an- 
other time  and  place  such  a  minute  portraiture  as  may  be  de- 
sired by  some.  We  cannot  in  the  present  instance  do  better  than 
adopt  the  methods  of  the  impressionist. 

The  old  New  England  States,  the  land  of  the  town  meeting, 
and  the  home  of  progressive  political  ideas,  have  kept  pace  with 
the  rest  of  the  country  in  developing  a  sound  and  healthy  inter- 
est in  municipal  affairs.  Boston  as  usual  is  the  centre  of  activity. 
Its  Municipal  League  has  for  the  present  confined  its  efforts  to 
securing  several  much-needed  amendments  to  the  charter.  The 
Legislature  of  1895  passed  its  bills  making  the  Mayor's  term  of 
office  two  years  instead  of  one,  and  substituting  single  commis- 
sioners for  boards.  This  year  its  efforts  have  been  directed  to 
pressing  the  bills  providing  for  proportional  representation  and 
a  single  municipal  chamber.  The  innovation  of  Mayor  Quincy 


CLINTON    ROGERS   WOODRUFF.  6$ 

in  appointing  an  Advisory  Committee  of  five  well-known  busi- 
ness men  to  suggest  needed  legislation  and  municipal  action, 
must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  because  it  represents  a  departure  from 
old-time  conceptions  of  municipal  administration.  Mayors  are 
apt  on  taking  office  to  express  a  desire  for  the  support  and  co- 
operation of  business  men,  but  rarely  take  any  steps  to  enable 
the  average  citizen,  who  is  diffident  about  giving  his  advice  un- 
sought, to  carry  out  this  idea.  Mayor  Quincy's  Committee 
bridges  over  this  difficulty  and  opens  up  an  avenue  of  approach 
which  ought  to  prove  of  undoubted  value  in  the  development  of 
the  higher  life  of  our  cities. 

The  most  important  event  of  the  year  in  New  York  State 
was  the  appointment  by  Governor  Morton  of  two  well-equipped 
Commissions  to  report  uniform  legislation  for  cities  of  the  second 
and  third  classes.  The  Commissioners  conscientiously  performed 
their  arduous  duties  and  submitted  to  the  Legislature,  after  ma- 
ture deliberation,  two  bills,  which  have  received  the  high  praise 
of  'students  of  the  question.  Whether  the  work  of  the  legisla- 
ture will  receive  the  same  commendation  remains  to  be  seen. 

The  political  activities  of  the  New  York  City  organizations 
last  fall  did  not  have  the  outcome  anticipated.  On  the  other 
hand  the  results,  though  disastrous  and  discouraging,  did  not 
have  the  far-reaching  effect  some  thought  they  would.  It  is  of 
interest  to  learn  that  the  City  and  Good  Government  Clubs  do 
not  propose  to  retire  from  the  field.  Naturally,  the  Tammany 
victory  of  last  November  had  an  untoward  effect ;  but  what 
more  could  be  expected  when  the  so-called  reform  organizations 
of  a  year  before,  such  as  the  German-American  Reform  Union, 
went  over  to  Tammany  bag  and  baggage,  because  the  Police 
Commissioners  had  determined  to  do  what  their  oath  of  office 
required  them  to  do :  to  enforce  the  laws,  including  those  relat- 
ing to  the  excise. 

While  recognizing  the  undoubtedly  great  work  done  by  the 
New  York  press  in  1894  in  exposing  the  iniquities  of  Tammany 
misrule,  it  is  difficult  to  escape  the  conviction  that  their  interest 
in  the  complete  reform  of  the  condemned  abuses  was  but  skin 


66  A  YEAR'S  WORK  FOR  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 

deep.  Otherwise  how  can  their  fierce  and  unfair  onslaught  on 
the  various  officials  of  the  present  administration  be  accounted 
for  ?  Surely  the  enforcement  of  law  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
good  government.  If  the  legislature  mistakenly  enacts  a  bad 
law,  it  is  not  within  the  province  of  an  executive  officer  to  cor- 
rect the  law,  unless  clothed  with  the  veto  power ;  such,  however, 
was  not  the  case  in  New  York.  The  defeat  in  New  York  is  to 
be  regretted,  because  of  its  possible  effect  on  other  communi- 
ties. While  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Chicago,  New  Or- 
leans, St.  Louis,  San  Francisco  have  great  influence  not  only  in 
their  respective  localities,  but  throughout  the  country,  the  hege- 
mony of  New  York  is  undisputed  and  gives  an  added  impor- 
tance to  efforts  like  that  made  to  overthrow  Tammany.  If  New 
York  succeeds  in  solving  the  municipal  problem,  there  is  no  rea- 
son why  every  other  city  should  not  succeed  in  casting  off  the 
shackles  of  corrupt,  extravagant  and  inefficient  government. 

In  Philadelphia  the  Senatorial  investigation,  prayed  for  by 
the  Municipal  League  and  Citizens'  Association,  and  carried 
forward  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  latter,  while  of  value 
in  confirming  many  of  the  charges  heretofore  made  against  some 
of  the  departments,  has  thus  far  failed  of  accomplishing  any  very 
large  amount  of  good,  because  it  has  been  controlled  too  largely 
by  factional  animosity  and  for  factional  purposes.  That  good 
may  follow  its  work  in  the  way  of  remedial  legislation  is  pos- 
sible. 

The  Municipal  League  has  largely  increased  its  membership 
(to  over  5000),  and  its  ward  organizations  (to  25).  In  February 
it  conducted  a  most  aggressive  campaign  designed  to  improve 
the  personnel  of  Councils,  without,  howerer,  accomplishing  its 
end,  although  20  out  of  64  of  its  candidates  were  elected ;  but 
as  there  are  upwards  of  150  Councilmen  (counting  the  members 
of  both  branches),  this  number  can  only  be  considered  as  a 
leaven,  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  together  with  the  few  good  men 
elected  in  previous  years,  will  "  leaveneth  the  whole  lump."  An 
extended  effort  to  secure  the  passage  of  some  much-needed  leg- 
islation will  be  made  at  the  coming  session  of  the  legislature, 


CLINTON   ROGERS   WOODRUFF. 


and  more  attention  than  ever  will  be  given  to  the  educational 
work  of  the  League,  its  experience  demonstrating  this  to  be  ab- 
solutely needful. 

One  of  the  most  noteworthy  achievements  of  the  League 
(the  Twenty-ninth  Ward  Association  taking  the  initiative)  was 
the  unseating  of  one  A.  J.  DeCamp,  who,  while  serving  as  gen- 
eral manager  of  an  electric  lighting  company  supplying  electric 
lights  to  the  city  under  contract,  had  himself  elected  to  a  seat  in 
Councils. 

Throughout  the  South  an  awakening  to  civic  consciousness 
is  to  be  observed.  There  is  scarcely  a  city  of  any  size  or  im- 
portance that  does  not  contain  a  group  of  public-spirited  citizens 
studying  local  conditions  and  working  for  their  improvement. 
Although  Baltimore,  New  Orleans  and  Galveston  have  thus  far 
displayed  the  greatest  activity,  other  cities,  inspired  by  their 
example,  are  aroused  and  in  another  year  will  be  found  not  far 
behind.  Last  November  a  reform  victory  of  considerable  im- 
portance was  won  in  Baltimore  (the  Reform  League  and  Good 
Government  Clubs  leading  the  forces),  by  which  Senator  Gorman 
and  the  corrupt  Democratic  ring  were  overthrown  ;  but  subse- 
quent events  have  shown  that  this  was  the  chief  fruit  of  the  vic- 
tory, except  the  election  of  Mayor  Hooper,  who  has  more  than 
fulfilled  his  ante-election  promises  and  the  early  submission  of  a 
civil  service  law  to  the  people  for  their  approval.  The  events 
teach  this  lesson,  however,  that  the  advocates  of  good  govern- 
ment are  not  fighting  Republicans  or  Democrats  as  such,  but 
professional  politicians.  In  every  city  there  are  two  parties  — 
the  one  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  the  community  and  of  the 
citizens  ;  the  other,  to  its  own  interests  and  those  of  the  machine. 
The  latter  may  be  called  in  one  city  Republican,  in  another 
Democratic,  in  a  third  Populist  ;  but  its  principles  and  methods 
are  invariably  and  everywhere  the  same.  The  problem  at  pres- 
ent seems  to  be  how  to  organize  the  good  government  forces  so 
as  to  make  the  result  of  every  election  uncertain,  thereby  forc- 
ing their  opponents  to  nominate  good  men  and  advocate  good 
measures  ;  for  if  the  enemies  of  good  government  find  that  this 


68  A  YEAR'S  WORK  FOR  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 

is  the  only  way  they  can  retain  office,  it  will  not  be  long  before 
they  will  abdicate  in  favor  of  the  people,  as  office  honestly 
administered  and  measures  conscientiously  designed  to  advance 
the  welfare  of  the  people  present  few,  if  any,  attractions  for  the 
professional  politicians. 

Last  spring  one  of  the  most  notable  reform  victories  in  the 
South  or  elsewhere,  was  won  in  the  city  of  Galveston,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Galveston  Good  Government  Club.  Out  of 
twelve  Aldermen  to  be  elected  the  Club  was  successful  in  having 
eleven  of  its  candidates  chosen.  After  nearly  a  year's  service 
the  verdict  of  the  city  is  that  they  have  met  every  ante-election 
promise  at  maturity.  The  city  has  never  been  more  efficiently 
governed.  Another  substantial  victory  worthy  of  record  herein 
was  the  re-election,  last  autumn,  of  Hon.  George  W.  Ochs  as 
Mayor  of  Chattanooga. 

In  New  Orleans,  a  few  days  ago,  the  corrupt  ring  that  had 
fattened  for  years  on  this  Southern  metropolis,  was  driven  from 
power  under  the  leadership  of  the  Citizens'  League,  by  the  de- 
cisive majority  of  1 1,000.  The  League's  fight  was  for  an  honest 
registration,  a  fair  count,  a  new  charter  and  honest  officials.  Its 
victory  will  have  a  far-reaching  effect,  as  it  carries  with  it  the 
election  of  a  reform  representation  to  the  legislature. 

In  the  Northern  Central  States  a  steady  activity  has  been 
manifested.  Public  interest  has  been  well  sustained,  and  per- 
manent gains  in  many  localities  are  to  be  noted.  In  Ohio  the 
agitation  for  uniform  municipal  legislation  has  been  continued 
under  the  direction  of  the  State  Board  of  Commerce.  In  Chicago 
the  Municipal  Voters'  League,  organized  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Civic  Federation,  elected  a  number  of  its  candidates  at  the 
April  election.  The  Indiana  organizations  have  been  principally 
engaged  in  securing  a  fair  and  honest  enforcement  of  the  re- 
cently-enacted Nicholson  law  regulating  the  liquor  trade  in  cities 
and  towns.  The  successful  outcome  of  the  contest  between 
Mayor  Pingree  and  the  corporations  of  Detroit  enjoying  public 
franchises  is  cause  for  hearty  and  sincere  congratulation.  In 
Milwaukee  the  Municipal  League's  political  efforts  for  better 


CLINTON   ROGERS   WOODRUFF.  69 

counciimen  and  an  improved  civil  service  have  met  with  con- 
siderable success,  and  its  work  in  connection  with  the  regulation 
of  municipal  privileges  and  franchises  gives  promise  of  fruitful 
results. 

In  the  far  West  a  decided  municipal  unrest  is  everywhere 
discernible  apart  from  the  financial  unrest,  which  has  given  rise 
to  Populism.  The  Western  communities  have  devoted  so  much 
time  and  energy  to  territorial  expansion  that  they  have  neglected 
to  provide  adequately  against  the  evils  of  machine  politics  and 
corruption,  although  they  are  in  the  lead  of  the  majority  of 
their  Eastern  sisters  in  testing  remedial  legislation.  While 
there  has  been  no  conspicuous  event  during  the  past  twelve 
months,  there  has  been  a  continuous  growth  in  numbers  and 
influence.  The  friends  and  advocates  of  reform  in  Tacoma, 
Washington,  are  rejoicing  over  their  splendid  victory  of  April 
last,  after  a  long  and  arduous  campaign,  whereby  they  secured 
the  adoption  of  a  new  charter,  including  with  many  other  ad- 
mirable provisions,  stringent  civil  service  regulations.  Over  60 
per  cent,  of  the  votes  were  cast  in  its  favor.  This  fall  the  citi- 
zens of  San  Francisco  will  have  the  opportunity  of  placing  that 
city  abreast  of  her  sister  communities  by  giving  her  a  modern 
charter  in  place  of  its  present  antiquated  system  dating  from  the 
consolidation  of  1856. 

The  greatest  activity  along  municipal  reform  lines  has  been 
manifested  since  the  formation  of  the  National  Municipal  League. 
While  it  can  scarcely  be  claimed  that  this  has  been  entirely  due 
to  the  League,  for  the  spirit  of  unrest  is  and  has  been  abroad 
and  would  have  led  to  some  sort  of  organized  effort,  neverthe- 
less, in  that  the  League  has  brought  the  whole  question  of  good 
city  government  prominently  before  the  people  of  the  country 
through  its  annual  conferences  and  its  widely-distributed  litera- 
ture, it  must  be  conceded  to  have  exercised  a  potent,  if  at  times 
indirect  influence,  in  the  civic  renascence  which  has  marked  the 
last  decade  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  It  can  and  must  be  said 
in  all  fairness  to  those  who  have  contributed  of  their  time  and 
means  to  its  maintenance  and  development  that  its  efforts  have 


7O  A  YEAR'S  WORK  FOR  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 

resulted  in  crystallizing  reform  sentiment  throughout  the  coun- 
try. The  League  has  not  only  been  influential  in  creating  sen- 
timent, molding  public  opinion  and  educating  the  active  workers 
in  new  fields,  but  it  has  also  brought  together  for  conference  and 
co-operation  those  already  engaged  in  the  work.  This  has  been 
of  untold  value.  The  victory  attained  in  Rochester  as  a  result 
of  the  new  inspiration  received  by  those  who  had  attended  the 
last  Conference  is  a  case  in  point.  The  delegates  from  the  Mu- 
nicipal Club  of  that  city  returned  from  Cleveland  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  great  importance  and  possibilities  of  the  work 
and  firmly  resolved  to  profit  by  the  experiences  of  other  cities. 
The  old  club  was  reorganized  and  a  canvass  for  new  members 
begun  with  enthusiasm.  Five  thousand  were  enrolled  and  a 
vigorous  campaign  for  the  election  of  a  reform  Mayor  inaugu- 
rated. Judge  Warner,  its  successful  candidate  for  Mayor,  has 
since  amply  justified  the  confidence  reposed  in  him. 

Following  the  Cleveland  meeting  there  was  an  extended 
discussion  of  the  various  phases  of  the  problem  of  municipal 
government  and  the  League's  relation  thereto.  In  some  quarters 
there  was  a  disposition  to  criticise  the  League  and  the  Confer- 
ences held  under  its  auspices  because  there  was  nothing  further 
than  discussion.  To  use  the  expression  employed  by  some  of 
the  critics,  "the  delegates  did  nothing  but  talk."  One  could 
but  gather  from  a  reading  of  some  of  the  editorials  that  the 
League  should  nominate  reform  candidates  for  mayors  and 
other  municipal  offices  in  the  various  cities  of  the  Union,  and 
that  a  part  of  its  annual  duties  was  to  furnish  platforms  for  its 
affiliated  associations.  All  of  which  only  tends  to  show  a  mis- 
conception of  the  true  functions  of  such  an  organization. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  in  this  connection  to  quote  from  the 
constitution  of  the  League  to  show  what  ends  the  founders  of 
the  League  sought  to  subserve.  Its  purposes  are  therein  de- 
clared to  be : 

"  First.  To  multiply  the  numbers,  harmonize  the  methods 
and  combine  the  forces  of  all  who  realize  that  it  is  only  by 
united  action  and  organization  that  good  citizens  can  secure  the 


CLINTON    ROGERS    WOODRUFF.  >J\ 

adoption  of  good  laws  and  the  selection  of  men  of  trained 
ability  and  proved  integrity  for  all  municipal  positions,  or  pre- 
vent the  success  of  incompetent  or  corrupt  candidates  for  public 
office.  Second.  To  promote  the  thorough  investigation  and  dis- 
cussion of  the  conditions  and  details  of  civic  administration,  and 
of  the  methods  for  selecting  and  appointing  officials  in  American 
cities,  and  of  laws  and  ordinances  relating  to  such  subjects. 
Third.  To  provide  for  such  meetings  and  conferences  and 
for  the  preparation  and  circulation  of  such  addresses  and  other 
literature  as  may  seem  likely  to  advance  the  cause  of  Good  City 
Government." 

To  the  efficient  carrying  out  of  these  ends,  the  executive 
officers  have  directed  their  efforts  and  have  succeeded  beyond 
the  expectations  of  the  most  sanguine.  The  League  has  per- 
formed a  further  function  in  that  it  has  served  as  a  Bureau  of 
Information,  answering  as  best  it  could  with  volunteer  service,  a 
multitude  of  questions  relating  to  municipal  government  and  its 
reform.  A  great  work  in  this  direction  is  possible  if  the  funds 
at  our  disposal  would  permit.  For,  although  the  finances  of  the 
League,  as  disclosed  by  the  Treasurer's  report,  are  in  a  much 
more  satisfactory  condition  than  last  year,  much  more  most 
valuable  work  could  be  done  if  larger  sums  were  subscribed. 
Indeed  there  is  no  limit  to  the  amount  of  good  to  be  accom- 
plished in  the  way  of  providing  a  literature.  Despite  the  increas- 
ing quantity  of  books,  pamphlets  and  periodicals  monthly  issu- 
ing from  the  press,  it  does  not  meet  the  demand  for  concise  and 
accurate  information  concerning  the  many  phases  of  the  ques- 
tion. 

The  reception  accorded  the  Proceedings  of  the  Minneapolis 
and  Cleveland  Conferences  for  Good  City  Government  published 
during  the  past  year  indicates  the  extent  and  character  of  the 
demand.  This  book  has  gone  into  every  leading  college  and 
library  in  the  country,  and  has  had  a  large  sale  among  clergy- 
men, lawyers  and  public  officials.  To  be  sure  it  has  not  had  as 
extensive  a  sale  as  the  latest  production  of  a  popular  novelist, 
but  it  has  found  its  way  into  the  hands  of  leaders — those  who 


72  A  YEAR'S  WORK  FOR  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 

will  make  the  largest  permanent  use  of  it.  The  experience  of 
the  Philadelphia  Municipal  League,  with  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Philadelphia  Conference,  bears  testimony  to  the  same  end.  The 
edition  has  been  exhausted  and  copies  can  be  had  only  at  a 
premium. 

The  interest  of  women  in  civic  affairs  continues  to  grow  and 
develop.  Far  from  having  shown  signs  of  lagging  behind  it 
bids  fair  to  outstrip  that  of  her  brothers.  Women  have  a  peculiar 
aptitude  for  the  work  of  agitation  and  education,  and  as  they 
are  coming  to  realize  what  better  city  government  means  for 
them  and  their  families  ;  they  are  exercising  their  talents  in 
helping  to  bring  about  a  better  day  in  our  municipalities.  And 
this  they  are  doing  without  any  reference  to  the  question  of 
suffrage.  For  the  time  being,  at  least  in  the  Eastern  communi- 
ties, it  has  been  laid  aside ;  in  the  Western  ones  it  is  an  accom- 
plished fact.  The  activity  of  women  has  always  been  essential 
to  the  accomplishment  of  great  reforms,  and  the  earnestness  and 
vigor  with  which  they  have  espoused  the  cause  of  municipal 
betterment  is  without  doubt  one  of  the  most  encouraging  omens 
of  ultimate,  complete  success. 

Indeed  no  reform  of  recent  years  has  attracted  the  attention 
and  support  of  so  many  classes  in  the  community  as  this.  Here- 
tofore most  efforts  involving  political  questions  have  been  largely 
supported  by  lawyers;  but  in  the  present  instance  doctors, 
clergymen,  business  men,  and  latterly  the  wage  earners,  as  well 
as  the  women,  are  devoting  their  time  and  effort  to  its  study  and 
reformation.  The  demand  for  the  Minneapolis  and  Cleveland 
Proceedings  and  the  correspondence  of  the  National  League,  as 
well  as  an  examination  of  the  personnel  of  the  governing  bodies 
of  civic  organizations,  demonstrate  that  the  interest  is  deep, 
general  and  constantly  growing.  It  is  such  evidence  as  this  that 
must  furnish  encouragement  and  hope  to  the  active  workers, 
who  always  aiming  for  more  than  they  can  gain  at  any  one 
time,  feel  discouraged  because  they  do  not  gain  all  for  which 
they  had  hoped;  but  one  who  carefully  considers  the  whole 
field  cannot  but  conclude  that  there  has  been  a  steady  advance. 


CLINTON    ROGERS    WOODRUFF.  73 

The  history  of  the  Civil  Service  movement  should  fill  the 
municipal  reformer  with  hope  and  encouragement,  should  he  at 
any  time  feel  that  his  efforts  were  not  meeting  with  all  the  suc- 
cess he  had  expected.  Less  than  20  years  ago  he  would  have 
been  regarded  as  a  dreamer  who  would  have  prophesied  that  in 
the  year  1896  upwards  of  56,000*  places  in  the  Federal  service 
would  be  protected  by  the  beneficent  provisions  of  a  civil  service 
law,  with  a  bright  prospect  of  the  remainder  being  given  the 
same  protection  in  the  near  future.  Yet  we  have  lived  to  see 
this  and  more.  Judging  from  the  public  interest  in  its  progress, 
and  the  emphatic  verdict  of  the  people  in  its  favor,  whenever 
they  have  an  opportunity  to  pass  upon  its  merits,  we  shall  see  a 
still  greater  extension  of  the  principle  during  the  next  decade. 

The  history  of  the  anti-slavery  movement  also  furnishes 
the  same  inspiration.  No  one  in  the  fifties  would  have  thought 
of  claiming  that  the  vexed  question  of  slavery  could — much 
less  would — be  settled  for  an  hundred  years  to  come.  Less 
than  half  that  time  has  elapsed,  and  it  is  settled  effectively  and 
for  all  time  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties  concerned. 
And  yet  preceding  neither  of  these  movements — the  civil  serv- 
ice or  anti-slavery — was  there  such  a  general  or  deep-seated  or 
emphatic  interest  manifested  as  has  been  described  in  this  paper. 
All  of  which  leads  to  the  profound  conviction  that  ere  long,  de- 
spite its  difficulties,  its  complexities,  and  its  ramifications,  the 
municipal  problem  of  the  United  States  will  be  solved,  and 
American  municipalities  will  lead  the  world.  I  have  supreme 
confidence  in  the  ability  of  the  American  people  to  meet  and 
settle  great  questions.  Indeed  our  national  history  is  made  up 
of  accounts  of  such  settlements.  That  they  will  fail  in  dealing 
with  this  modern  problem,  I  have  no  thought.  When  once  con- 
vinced of  the  iniquity  of  the  present  state  of  affairs,  they  will 
move  with  resistless  force  on  the  works  of  the  enemy  and  level 
every  obstacle  to  the  complete  accomplishment  of  their  will. 

*  This  paper  was  read  on  the  day  that  the  President  issued  his  order 
placing  30,000  more  offices  under  the  classified  service,  which  would  bring 
this  number  up  to  86,000. 


74  A  YEAR'S  WORK  FOR  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 

Our  work,  the  work  of  this  League  and  every  organization 
represented  in  it,  is  to  hasten  the  day  when  the  American  people 
will  see  that  our  future  development  and  greatness  depends  upon 
the  rescue  of  our  cities  from  the  hands  of  the  spoilsmen  and 
machine. 


THE  RECENT  REVOLT  IN  BALTIMORE.  75 


THE  RECENT  REVOLT  IN   BALTIMORE:    ITS 
RESULTS  AND  ITS  LESSONS. 


CHARLES    MORRIS    HOWARD,    ESQ., 
SECRETARY,  BALTIMORE  REFORM  LEAGUE. 


I  cannot  here  attempt  to  describe  at  any  length  the  rise  and 
rule  of  the  despotic  oligarchy  which  for  twenty  years  dominated 
political  life  in  this  city  and  State,  ground  down  our  people, 
endeavored  to  crush  out  independence,  cheated  us  of  our  suf- 
frage and  ate  up  our  substance.  My  object  is  rather  to  show 
how  this  Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  after  fastening  upon  us,  was,  with 
a  mighty  effort,  finally  shaken  off,  to  draw  from  a  victorious 
popular  uprising  such  general  conclusions  as  may  seem  just, 
such  lessons  as  may  be  useful  and  such  inspiration  and  comfort 
as  may  be  warranted. 

Most  of  you  have  heard  of  the  Gorman-Rasin  ring,  a  ring 
constructed  upon  much  the  same  plan  as  other  successful  polit- 
ical machines  throughout  this  country,  conducted  with  great 
ability  and  shrewdness  by  men  who  understood  thoroughly  the 
idiosyncrasies  and  prejudices  of  our  people  which,  for  their  sel- 
fish purposes,  they  played  upon  and  utilized  to  the  top  of  their 
bent.  This  callous  and  unscrupulous  machine  was  one  of  the 
most  compact  and  best  disciplined  in  the  country,  and  had  long 
conducted  the  affairs  of  this  city  and  state  in  utter  disregard  of 
higher  political  principles.  There  had  been  desperate  revolts 
against  it,  notably  in  1875  and  1885,  but,  while  the  opposition 
won,  it  was  not  permitted  to  enjoy  its  victory.  Such  was  the  de- 
fective condition  of  the  existing  ballot  laws  and  the  concerted 
power  of  the  machine  that  it  could,  and  did,  manufacture  ma- 
jorities almost  at  will.  The  spirit  of  revolt,  which  had  been 
smouldering,  broke  out  afresh  in  1895,  and  the  opposition  was 
strengthened  and  the  machine's  power  of  resistance  greatly 


76  THE  RECENT  REVOLT  IN  BALTIMORE. 

weakened  by  the  immense  number  of  defections  from  the  Demo- 
cratic party  caused  by  Senator  Gorman's  treacherous  course  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  In  short,  the  summer  of  1895  found 
most  unusual  conditions  of  disgust  and  revolt  against  existing 
things,  and  those  who  guided  the  Republican  party  would  have 
been  sad  blunderers  if  they  had  failed  to  reap  some  party  ad- 
vantage from  these  conditions.  It  was  only  necessary  that  strong 
and  progressive  men  should  be  put  forward ;  that  it  should 
pledge  itself  to  reforms  which  the  Democratic  party  had  often 
promised  but  never  carried  out ;  that  the  campaign  should  be 
conducted  on  a  high  plane  and  the  conscience  of  the  voter  be 
appealed  to.  The  successful  faction  in  the  Republican  State  Con- 
vention seemed  to  seize  this  idea.  The  reactionary  element  was 
thrust  back.  A  ringing  platform  was  adopted.  Among  the 
most  important  reforms  promised  were  a  new  registration  and 
ballot  law.  The  merit  system  of  government  was  commended, 
and  the  question  of  the  adoption  of  civil  service  reform  was  to 
be  submitted  to  the  voters  for  their  decision. 

Immediately  the  dissatisfied  elements  rallied  to  the  support  of 
the  State  ticket  and,  in  a  somewhat  less  enthusiastic  manner,  of 
the  Republican  city  ticket  also.  The  independent  press,  an  in- 
fluential portion  of  the  heretofore  Democratic  press,  the  reform 
organizations,  the  pulpit,  a  host  of  discontented  Democrats  and 
a  large  number  of  Republicans,  previously  lukewarm,  threw 
themselves  with  vigor  and  enthusiasm  into  the  fight  for  efficient 
and  honest  government.  The  Republican  platform  studiously 
omitted  any  reference  to  national  questions.  The  effort  was  to 
make  straight  that  which  was  crooked  in  State  and  municipal 
affairs,  and  it  was  this  effort  that  attracted  attention  and  aroused 
unbounded  interest.  As  the  campaign  proceeded  it  attained  a 
higher  pitch.  The  fervent  and  emphatic  pledges  of  the  candi- 
dates and  orators  and  the  popular  reception  accorded  to  them 
acted  and  reacted  in  turn  upon  each  other.  The  moderate  and 
guarded  platform  utterance  as  to  civil  service  reform  was  soon 
lost  sight  of  in  view  of  the  stronger  and  more  emphatic  lan- 
guage of  those  who  conducted  the  campaign.  The  reformers 


CHARLES  MORRIS  HOWARD.  77 

took  nothing  for  granted,  and  numerous  queries  were  put  to 
candidates  by  Good  Government  Clubs  and  other  organizations. 
In  such  cases  the  candidates  hastened  to  satisfy  the  increasing 
requirements.  The  practices  of  the  party  of  reform  (for  so  the 
Republican  party  was  regarded)  were  on  a  level  with  its  profes- 
sions. Political  dirty  work  and  the  political  dirty  worker  were 
obliterated  from  view.  No  scandal  was  whispered.  The  ignorant 
spoilsman  and  practical  politician  were  relegated  to  the  rear. 

Curious  as  it  may  seem,  the  dominant  party  made  no  no- 
ticeable effort  to  attract  the  conscientious  voter  by  any  appeal 
made  to  his  judgment,  or  any  serious  promise  of  betterment. 
Frequently  had  it  promised  the  electors  that  reform  legislation 
would  be  granted,  and  in  each  case  had  it  been  withheld,  but  in 
this  instance  the  so-called  Democratic  organization  somewhat 
pointedly  refrained  from  betraying  any  apparent  consciousness 
of  the  aroused  popular  wrath  and  grim  determination  to  secure, 
in  one  way  or  another,  a  better  order  of  things.  The  Demo- 
cratic platform  of  1895  contained  a  very  long  recital  of  the 
aspirations  and  achievements  of  the  Democratic  party  in  national 
affairs,  but  made  no  pledges  whatever  except  to  pass  a  reassess- 
ment law,  and  closed  with  a  fervent  appeal  for  votes  to  the  end 
that  in  the  momentous  presidential  contest  of  1896  Maryland 
might  still  be  found  "  occupying  her  high  place  in  the  Demo- 
cratic column."  The  leaders  in  the  losing  cause  relied  appar- 
ently on  their  latent  ability  to  have  counted  the  requisite  num- 
ber of  votes,  and  showed  little  anxiety  as  to  any  other  aspect  of 
the  campaign.  If  the  surprising  result  of  the  election  has  had 
the  effect  of  convincing  the  politicians  that  fraud  and  brute  force 
alone  will  not  determine  elections,  and  that  cynicism  should  be 
tempered  by  some  appreciation  of  what  the  people  want,  it  will 
be  worth,  on  this  score,  a  large  part  of  what  it  cost. 

In  this  situation,  the  pledges  of  the  Democratic  party  being 
noticeable  by  their  absence  and  the  pledges  of  the  Republican 
party  to  distinct  local  reforms  having  gained  the  confidence  of  a 
great  majority  of  the  people,  the  contest  narrowed  down  quite 
early  in  the  campaign  to  the  question  whether  the  people's  will 


78  THE  RECENT  REVOLT  IN  BALTIMORE. 

should  be  thwarted,  or  whether  it  should  be  expressed  with  tol- 
erable fairness  and  accuracy.  This  was  outwardly  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  campaign  became,  comparatively  speaking,  a  silent 
campaign.  Outside  of  the  able  and  vigorous  discussion  of  the 
press,  it  was  for  the  most  part  a  campaign  of  quiet,  resolute, 
arduous  work  from  the  start  until  the  going  down  of  the  sun  on 
the  day  of  election.  The  effort  of  the  party  in  power  was  un- 
doubtedly to  rehabilitate  its  waning  strength  by  polling  a  large 
fictitious  or  fraudulent  vote ;  that  of  the  opposition  to  check,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  successful  pursuance  of  these  tactics.  I  do 
not  feel  that  it  is  going  too  for  to  say  that  the  defensive  cam- 
paign of  the  party  in  power  took  the  form  of  a  conspiracy. 
Every  resource  in  its  power  and  every  advantage  of  position 
were  fully  employed.  Being  the  administrator  of  the  law,  it 
did  not  hesitate  to  subvert  the  law.  The  policy  of  the  reform 
opposition  consisted  largely  in  showing  up  each  contemplated 
iniquity  and  bringing  to  bear  upon  it  the  force  of  a  thoroughly 
aroused  public  opinion. 

Among  the  devices  employed  by  the  ring  I  may  mention, 
by  way  of  example,  the  appointment  of  a  large  number  of  dis- 
reputable registration  officers;  the  appointment,  as  pretended 
minority  registers,  of  persons  not  really  representing  the  minor- 
ity party  and  protested  against  by  its  organization ;  the  summary 
exclusion  of  watchers  from  the  registration  rooms  by  the  elec- 
tion supervisors,  acting  with  the  co-operation  of  the  police,  upon 
the  advice  of  counsel,  based  on  the  idea  that  if  one  citizen  had 
the  right  to  be  present  all  citizens  would  exercise  a  similar  right 
to  the  obstruction  of  the  registration  officers  and  the  work  of 
registration ;  the  enormously  padded  registration  lists  and  fraud- 
ulent striking  off  of  many  genuine  names  ;  the  vigorous  use  made 
of  a  substitution  of  the  word  "  vote  "  for  "  veto,"  made  by  the 
attorney-general  of  the  state  who  had  been  employed  to  codify 
the  laws,  thus  depriving  the  minority  supervisor  of  all  control 
over  minority  appointments,  a  veto  as  to  which  the  law  wisely 
intended  to  vest  in  him  ;  the  advice  of  counsel  to  the  supervisors 
of  election  that  such  language  was  operative  to  take  away  such 


CHARLES  MORRIS  HOWARD.  79 

right;  the  appointment  of  judges  and  clerks  of  election  similar 
in  character  to  the  registers  previously  appointed ;  the  refusal  of 
the  governor  to  remove  the  majority  supervisors  on  charges  of 
fraud,  partiality  and  lawlessness,  and  his  removal  of  the  minority 
supervisor,  against  whom  no  charges  had  been  brought,  and 
whose  main  offense  was  his  weak  acquiescence  in  the  wrongs 
committed  by  his  Democratic  colleagues ;  the  appointment  of 
two  new  supervisors  (the  less  guilty  of  the  two  majority  super- 
visors having  resigned  under  fire),  the  minority  member  being  a 
distinguished  civil  service  reformer  and  the  majority  member  an 
old  and  intimate  member  of  the  existing  ring,  thoroughly  in 
sympathy  with  the  crooked  work  which  had  led  to  the  unsuc- 
cessful demand  for  the  removal  of  Mr.  Bians,  the  chairman  and 
evil  genius  of  the  board. 

I  need  only  refer  briefly  to  the  combination  and  thorough 
understanding  between  this  new  member  and  Mr.  Bians  to  pre- 
vent Mr.  Bonaparte,  the  new  minority  representative,  from  get- 
ting rid  of  undesirable  election  officers  before  election  day ;  to 
the  efforts  made  by  the  Reform  League  and  others  to  get  the 
Police  Board  to  issue  something  other  than  its  usual  annual  in- 
structions governing  the  conduct  of  elections  ;  to  its  manifest 
unwillingness  to  do  so,  but  subsequent  modification  of  the  in- 
structions under  the  pressure  of  a  public  mass  meeting  ;  to  the 
absolutely  ineffectual  efforts  to  get  the  police  authorities,  before 
the  election,  to  scare  off  and  break  up  gangs  of  election  law- 
breakers known  to  be  in  the  city  and  accurately  located  through 
professional  detectives  and  other  agencies  employed  by  private 
citizens,  a  description  and  location  of  such  gangs  being  furnished 
by  them  to  the  police ;  to  the  unsuccessful  efforts  of  the  Balti- 
more Reform  League  on  the  eve  of  the  election  to  induce  the 
Police  Board  to  promise  to  arrest  repeaters  and  other  election 
offenders  on  the  morning  of  the  election  in  cases  where  offenses 
should  be  committed  within  the  sight  of  the  police  officers.  Nor 
have  I  the  time  to  describe  at  any  length  the  organization  of  citi- 
zens to  watch  at  the  polls  the  operations  of  the  criminals  and 
the  conduct  of  the  police  on  the  day  of  election,  nor  to  com- 


8O  THE  RECENT  REVOLT  IN  BALTIMORE. 

mend,  as  it  deserves,  the  splendid  work  done  by  these  watchers. 
Even  their  work  was  obstructed  by  the  police  authorities,  and 
exception  was  taken  to  the  published  instructions  to  watchers  in 
so  far  as  they  were  advised  in  case  they  had  knowledge  of  any 
illegality  committed  to  enter  the  polling-room  for  the  purpose  of 
protesting  an  illegal  vote  or  ordering  the  arrest  of  an  offender. 
Such  right  was  denied  by  the  police  authorities  upon  the  ground 
that  if  one  citizen  had  the  right  to  enter  the  polling  place  every 
citizen  had  the  same  right,  and  apparently  all  at  the  same  time, 
the  same  argument  which  had  previously  done  service  during 
the  registration  period  and  had  resulted  for  a  short  while  in  ex- 
cluding the  public  from  a  view  of  what  was  going  on  in  connec- 
tion with  this  important  public  matter.  This  portion  of  the  in- 
structions was,  therefore,  withdrawn  by  the  Reform  League  upon 
the  assurance  of  the  counsel  for  the  Police  Board  that  commu- 
nication would  be  afforded  by  the  police  at  the  polls,  which 
promise  was  not  kept,  the  result  being  that  communication  was 
cut  off  between  the  parties  outside  who  might  know  the  facts 
and  the  officers  inside  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  take  action  if 
they  knew  them.  This  lengthy,  and  I  fear  somewhat  tedious, 
enumeration  by  no  means  exhausts  the  list  of  obstacles  raised 
by  the  machine  to  hinder  the  free  expression  of  the  people's  will. 
They  are  simply  specimens. 

In  spite  of  these  odds,  the  battle  of  the  people  against  the 
machine  went  bravely  on.  A  tremendous  vote  was  polled. 
Thousands  of  watchers  alternated  in  guarding  the  polls,  shadow- 
ing repeaters  and  watching  the  conduct  of  the  police  officers. 
Sinister  and  suspicious  looking  characters,  many  of  them  from 
distant  points,  were  seen  in  the  line  of  voters  or  sullenly  hang- 
ing around  the  polls,  but  were  largely  prevented  from  carrying 
out  their  designs  by  the  presence  of  the  watchers,  whom  they 
cursed,  threatened,  and  in  some  cases  succeeded  in  driving  away. 
Of  the  large  number  of  persons  who,  as  a  result  of  the  careful 
shadowing  done  by  the  watchers  and  their  persistence  in  com- 
pelling the  police  to  arrest  them,  had  been  arrested  in  the  morn- 
ing for  illegal  voting,  some  were  released  in  the  afternoon  by 


CHARLES  MORRIS  HOWARD.  8 1 

the  judges,  who  sat  in  the  criminal  court,  upon  defective  commit- 
ments. There  were  numerous  assaults  of  various  degrees  of 
violence ;  organized  disorder  and  intimidation  on  the  part  of  the 
Democratic  ring;  rescues  of  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  police- 
men were  not  infrequent.  Several  men  were  shot,  and  one 
killed.  This  happened  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  place  where 
Senator  Gorman,  a  few  weeks  before,  had  made  an  impassioned 
speech  assuring  a  number  of  party  workers  that  they  were  "  in 
possession  and  intended  to  remain  in  possession,"  which  proved 
to  be  a  mistaken  prophecy,  although  the  Senator's  disciples 
labored  arduously  that  the  Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled. 

The  battle  was  won  by  a  decisive  Republican  plurality  of 
18,000  on  the  gubernatorial  vote,  as  against  a  Democratic  plu- 
rality at  the  previous  gubernatorial  election  of  over  30,000. 
Baltimore  alone  gave  a  Republican  plurality  of  nearly  12,000 
votes.  The  next  day  the  political  air  was  as  pure  and  pellucid 
as  if  a  cyclone  had  just  ceased  to  rage.  One  felt  as  if  the  level 
of  political  life  had  been  immensely  lifted,  and  one  breathed  the 
clear  and  bracing  atmosphere  which  usually  goes  with  a  high 
elevation.  It  may  be  worth  noticing  now  that,  at  the  time  of 
which  we  are  speaking  and  for  months  after,  there  was  not  a 
voice  raised  discordant  with  the  tone  that  had  prevailed  during 
the  campaign.  The  press  utterances  were  unmistakable  in  rec- 
ognizing the  reform  influences  which  had  been  decisive  in  put- 
ting a  new  party  into  power,  and  they  were  strong  in  reiterating 
that  all  campaign  pledges  should  be  fully  complied  with,  not 
grudgingly  nor  as  to  the  letter  only,  but  good  measure,  pressed 
down  and  running  over. 

The  newly-elected  Legislature  met  the  first  week  in  January. 
For  a  time  no  business  of  public  importance  was  transacted,  the 
gentlemen  who  were  candidates  for  the  United  States  Senator- 
ship  being  busy  in  testing  their  relative  strength  and  taxing  the 
mental  resources  of  the  Republican  members  in  making  and 
thwarting  various  combinations.  After  this  somewhat  tedious 
matter  was  disposed  of  the  best  energies  of  the  dominant  party 
were  for  a  long  while  absorbed  in  the  selection  of  a  State  Treas- 


82  THE  RECENT  REVOLT  IN  BALTIMORE. 

urer.  In  the  meanwhile  the  month  of  January  had  elapsed, 
and  with  it  one-third  of  the  legislative  session.  As  yet,  how- 
ever, the  discordant  note  of  the  spoilsman  had  not  been  heard, 
and  there  was  on  all  hands  a  tacit  understanding  that  a  civil 
service  bill,  prepared  by  the  Civil  Service  Reform  Association 
of  Maryland,  and  a  new  election  bill,  prepared  by  the  Baltimore 
Reform  League,  would  be  embodied  into  law.  But  as  the  time 
for  legislative  action  advanced,  what  had  previously  been  sup- 
posed to  be  a  tacit  agreement  began  to  wear  the  aspect  of  an 
ominous  silence.  Hitherto  both  the  open  and  covert  enemies  of 
good  government  had  been  shamed  into  silence  or  paralyzed 
into  inactivity.  The  reform  avalanche  had  disturbed  their  mental 
adjustment.  Never  had  they  encountered  anything  like  it. 
Now,  after  the  senatorial  conflict  had  brought  them  closely  in 
touch  with  their  fellow-members  and  demonstrated,  by  actual 
contact,  the  Irishman's  aphorism  that  "  there  is  a  deal  of  human 
nature  in  man/'  they  began  to  find  their  tongues,  and,  in  Car- 
lyle's  phrase,  to  utter  the  thought  that  was  in  them.  One  of  the 
first  to  give  it  eloquent  utterance  expressed  his  attitude  towards 
civil  service  reform  by  stating  that  his  party  was  not  going  "  to 
despoil  the  vineyard  until  it  had  gathered  in  the  grapes."  This 
exhilarating  statement  had  the  effect  of  making  glad  the  hearts 
of  many  of  this  gentleman's  associates,  and  under  its  genial  in- 
fluence they  found  a  welcome  inspiration.  From  that  time  on 
for  a  season  the  spoilsmen  continued  to  grow  more  audacious 
and  more  noisy,  so  that  when  the  civil  service  bill  reached  its 
third  reading  in  the  House  the  spoilsmen  were  sufficiently  em- 
boldened to  defeat  it  utterly,  and  the  situation  was  not  much 
mended  when,  a  few  days  afterwards,  they  reconsidered  their  ac- 
tion and  passed  it,  with  a  referendum  attachment,  in  a  form 
which  made  it  of  doubtful  constitutionality,  a  consideration 
which  was  absolutely  fatal  to  its  chance  of  adoption.  This  ac- 
tion was  taken  with  much  apparent  deliberation,  in  the  face  of 
urgent  protests  made  by  many  of  the  most  influential  citizens  of 
both  parties,  who  took  every  method  to  make  their  demands  a 
potent  force. 


CHARLES   MORRIS    HOWARD.  83 

Nor  did  the  pestilent  contagion  of  spoils  politics  confine  it- 
self within  the  State  House,  but,  with  scarcely  any  warning, 
broke  out  in  the  City  Hall  of  this  municipality.  The  mayorr 
who  had  been  carried  into  office  on  the  tide  of  the  great  reform 
wave,  realized  the  significance  of  his  election,  and  that  its  unmis- 
takable meaning  called  for  business,  and  not  politics,  in  the  con- 
duct of  city  affairs.  He  therefore  plunged  himself  into  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  municipality's  affairs,  leaving  himself  com- 
paratively little  time  to  listen  to  the  blandishments  of  the  poli- 
ticians, or  to  interchange  with  city  councilmen  those  agreeable 
and  frequent  amenities  as  to  appointments  to  office,  which  are 
deemed  essential  by  practitioners  of  the  spoils  system,  and  as 
jealously  guarded  as  is  senatorial  courtesy  in  the  unpopular 
branch  of  the  national  Legislature.  His  disregard  of  outside  ad- 
vice soon  won  for  him  the  bitter  hostility  of  the  Council,  and  as 
a  result  of  an  unfortunate  controversy  the  City  Council,  not  con- 
tent with  the  power  of  confirmation  lodged  in  it  by  existing  law, 
sought  to  arrogate  to  itself  the  sole  power  of  appointment  by 
the  passage  of  ordinances  intended  to  deprive  the  mayor  of  all 
voice  in  the  appointment  of  city  officials,  and  thereupon  pro- 
ceeded of  itself  to  fill  the  offices.  This  absolutely  novel  and 
revolutionary  procedure  has  fortunately,  so  far,  had  no  other  ill 
effects  than  to  transfer  the  struggle  into  the  courts  (as  the  mayor 
has  uniformly  refused  to  swear  in  any  of  the  Council's  ap- 
pointees), and  to  retain  in  office  some  of  the  discredited  officials 
of  the  old  regime. 

But  the  distressing  and  humiliating  revival  of  spoils  poli- 
tics in  the  Legislature  proved  to  be  but  a  short-lived  phase  in 
the  rapidly-changing  kaleidoscope  of  latter-day  Maryland  poli- 
tics. What  influences  produced  the  change  we  need  not  here 
stop  to  inquire,  but  in  the  Legislature,  before  the  end  of  the 
session,  sober  and  rational  second  thought  had  taken  possession 
of  its  members.  Three  days  before  the  session  closed  a  bill  to 
bring  the  police,  fire  department  and  public  school  systems  of 
all  towns  with  8000  inhabitants  under  the  provisions  of  the 
merit  system  was  defeated  in  the  House  of  Delegates  only  by 


84  THE  RECENT  REVOLT  IN  BALTIMORE. 

the  extremely  narrow  margin  of  thirty-eight  to  thirty-six  votes. 
By  the  last  day  of  the  session  the  dominant  party  had  redeemed, 
in  a  substantial  manner,  the  pledges  of  its  platform.  A  free 
school-book  bill  had  been  passed,  and  a  reassessment  and  tax 
bill  adopted,  matters  which  do  not  especially  concern  us  here 
except  in  so  far  as  the  exact  fulfillment  of  party  pledges  con- 
stitutes a  most  refreshing  contrast  to  the  conduct  of  the  politi- 
cal party  which  had  lately  been  supplanted.  The  registration 
and  ballot  bill  prepared  by  the  Baltimore  Reform  League  was 
passed  substantially  in  the  form  prepared  by  the  League,  such 
minor  amendments  as  were  adopted  in  no  way  impairing  its 
efficiency.  The  Legislature  is  therefore  entitled  to  the  credit  of 
having  passed  a  law  upon  the  vital  subject  of  ballot  reform, 
which  thoroughly  redeems  the  pledges  made  in  the  Republican 
platform,  and  codifies  entirely  our  election  laws  according  to  the 
best-considered  principles  and  latest  models.  For  this  our  polit- 
ical reformers  vigorously  struggled  for  a  decade.  It  was  worth 
the  fight. 

But  more  than  this,  in  further  and  final  fulfillment  of  their 
platform  pledges,  the  Republican  House  of  Delegates  passed  an 
act  (and  be  it  said  to  the  credit  of  the  Democratic  majority  in 
the  Senate  that  that  body  adopted  this  act  with  scarcely  a  dis- 
sentient voice)  submitting  to  the  people  of  the  State  a  constitu- 
tional amendment  making  the  merit  system  a  part  of  the  or- 
ganic law.  This  latter  legislation  imposes  a  new  and  practical 
responsibility  upon  civil  service  reformers,  and  it  becomes  their 
duty  to  see  that  the  opportunity  not  merely  to  write  the  merit 
system  upon  the  statute  book,  but  to  imbed  it  in  our  very  Con- 
stitution, shall  not  be  lost. 

In  contemplating  the  actual  legislative  achievements  of  this 
year,  the  most  prejudiced  observer  will  have  to  admit  that  im- 
mense advances  have  been  made  from  which  there  can  be  no 
backward  step,  since  it  is  of  the  essence  of  such  reforms  as  we 
are  now  discussing  that,  once  achieved,  they  become  the  safe 
heritage  of  future  generations.  Like  the  great  charters  of  Eng- 
lish liberties,  they  are  painfully  and  laboriously  created,  inch  by 


CHARLES    MORRIS    HOWARD.  85 

inch,  but  once  constructed  they  remain  enduring  monuments  for 
all  time.  So  it  is  with  ballot  reform.  So  it  will  be  with  civil 
service  reform  if  it  is  properly  presented  to  the  people  of  this 
State,  and  it  may  soon  be  the  proud  boast  of  Marylanders  that, 
next  to  the  great  State  of  New  York,  they  were  the  first  to  embody 
in  their  Constitution  the  salutary  requirement  that  merit  and  not 
intrigue  or  favoritism  shall  open  up  a  career  in  the  public  service 
of  the  State.  No  one  who  is  familiar  with  affairs  in  this  city  and 
State  can  imagine  for  one  instant  that  had  the  Democratic  ring 
succeeded  in  the  late  election  we  should  have  secured  such 
gains. 

It  may  seem  to  some  that,  in  pointing  out  the  advances  which 
we  have  made,  or  hope  to  make,  as  the  result  of  our  recent  re- 
volt I  have  not  approached  very  near  the  matters  which  are  of 
especial  concern  to  a  gathering  of  municipal  reformers.  It  is 
true  that  I  have  not  discussed  such  questions  as  city  charters, 
municipal  taxation,  natural  monopolies  and  the  best  mode  of 
dealing  with  them,  nor  many  other  of  the  municipal  questions 
which  are  pressing  for  an  early  and  intelligent  settlement.  It 
might  seem  at  first  sight  that  the  reforms  actually  accomplished 
in  Baltimore,  while  valuable  in  themselves,  left  the  condition  of 
our  municipal  life  as  helpless  and  hopeless  as  before.  In  reality, 
the  gains  which  have  been  made  stand  in  very  close  relation  to 
all  contemplated  improvements  in  the  details  of  municipal  ad- 
ministration. Their  accomplishment  was  an  indispensable  con- 
dition precedent,  and  has  both  cleared  the  ground  and  laid  the 
corner-stone,  so  that  the  rearing  of  the  structure  of  municipal 
reform  may  now  go  rapidly  forward.  While  our  elections  were 
determined  by  force,  fraud,  bribery  or  the  pressure  of  a  power- 
ful party  machine  illicitly  exercised,  of  what  possible  avail  was 
the  discussion  of  any  municipal  question,  except  the  vital  one 
of  throwing  off  a  galling  yoke  and  clearing  the  way  for  con- 
structive reforms  ?  Now  that  we  are  rescued  from  the  domina- 
tion of  imaginary  majorities  we  are  free  to  grapple  with  facts  in- 
stead of  having  to  fight  with  phantoms.  When  the  merit  sys- 
tem shall  become  an  accomplished  fact  municipal  politics  will 


86  THE  RECENT  REVOLT  IN  BALTIMORE. 

insensibly  be  transmuted  from  being  primarily  a  business  of 
office  brokerage  into  what  it  should  be — the  discussion  and  set- 
tlement of  municipal  problems  and  management  of  the  city  to 
the  best  advantage  of  its  citizens.  And  I  am  enough  of  an  op- 
timist to  believe  that  the  merit  system  will  shortly  become  an 
accomplished  fact  in  spite  of  the  momentous  changes  which  will 
follow  in  its  train. 

The  recent  campaign  in  Baltimore  serves  also  to  mark  the 
progress  which  is  taking  place  in  divorcing  ideas  of  national 
politics  from  the  consideration  of  local  affairs.  If  the  people  of 
this  city  have  not  yet  fully  learned  that  municipal  affairs  rest 
upon  an  absolutely  independent  basis,  and  should  be  kept  dis- 
tinct from  national  and  State  affairs,  at  least  they  have  realized, 
by  practical  experiment,  that  a  State  campaign  can  be  waged  ab- 
solutely apart  from  national  considerations,  which,  I  think,  is  a 
long  step  towards  the  goal  of  the  municipal  reformer.  Never 
before  in  this  city,  except  in  one  memorable  case  of  a  judicial 
campaign  when  the  bosses  quarreled  among  themselves,  have 
national  issues  been  successfully  eliminated  from  a  local  contest. 
The  results  in  Maryland  would  seem  to  show  that,  in  some 
cases  at  least,  municipal  reformers  can  accomplish  the  best  re- 
sults, in  the  absence  of  a  municipal  reform  party,  by  utilizing 
some  of  the  various  political  parties  rather  than  by  improvising 
an  organization  of  their  own  and  appealing  to  voters  to  support 
their  candidates.  They  can  thus  impress  themselves  somewhat 
both  upon  the  platforms  and  nominations  of  the  several  parties, 
and  finally  throw  their  voting  and  working  influence  in  favor  of 
that  organization  which  affords  most  reasonable  hope  of  better- 
ment. Recent  experiences  elsewhere  show  that  reformers  have 
as  much  a  duty  in  not  becoming  utterly  detached  from  the  vot- 
ing strength  of  the  people  as  in  thoroughly  maintaining  their 
political  independence.  I  am  far  from  attempting  to  lay  down 
any  unvarying  rule,  for  the  duty  of  municipal  reformers  as  1o 
this  matter  will  vary,  just  as  the  duty  of  the  individual  varies, 
according  to  circumstances  and  seasons,  and  is  to  be  dictated 
purely  by  his  conscience,  regulated,  of  course,  by  good  judg- 


CHARLES    MORRIS    HOWARD.  8/ 

ment  and  common  sense.  Indeed,  the  independent  vote  may 
properly  be  called  the  conscience  vote,  and  it  is  for  this  reason 
that  its  rapid  growth  is  so  cheering  a  sign.  To  stimulate  the 
sense  and  conscience  of  the  average  voter  and  direct  its  activity 
into  proper  channels  is,  I  think,  the  main  duty  of  the  reformer. 
He  should  be  primarily  a  critic,  not,  of  course,  of  the  carping 
or  destructive  order,  but  a  critic  of  the  positive  and  constructive 
type.  Such  critics  were  James  Russell  Lowell,  George  William 
Curtis,  and,  in  this  State  and  city,  S.  Teackle  Wallis.  What 
these  men  did  in  their  great  way  each  one  of  us  can  help  to  do 
in  his  smaller  way,  if  we  only  have  their  honesty  of  conviction 
and  steadfastness  of  purpose. 

The  city  of  Baltimore  is  now  fortunate  in  having  a  very 
large  and  increasing  body  of  unbiased,  alert  and  independent 
voters,  intent  on  good  government  and  determined  to  have  it. 
They  do  not  seek  office,  its  honors  nor  its  emoluments.  They 
come  within  the  class  referred  to  by  Mr.  Carl  Schurz,  when  he 
once  said :  "  To  the  managing  politician  the  man  who  wants 
nothing  is  the  most  embarrassing  problem."  Here  we  have  now 
a  large  body  of  such  men  who  must  be  dealt  with  or,  to  carry 
out  Mr.  Schurz's  idea,  "  solved  "  by  the  managing  politician  if 
he  is  to  continue  to  manage.  These  men  want  nothing  and  de- 
mand nothing,  except  good  government  and  an  end  of  public 
scandals.  They  want  these  things  emphatically,  and  have  at 
hand  a  convincing  power  to  enforce  their  demands.  It  is  this 
honest,  disinterested  class  which  makes  for  good  government, 
because  its  interests  and  desires  are  bound  up  on  the  side  of 
good  government.  This  class,  fortunately  for  our  institutions,  is 
a  majority  in  the  community.  Without  it  democratic  institu- 
tions must  surely  prove  a  failure.  The  demonstrated  fact  that 
this  vote  can  be  educated,  aroused  and  marshaled  in  such  a  way 
as  to  effectually  overcome  the  force,  fraud  and  subtle  machina- 
tions of  a  powerful  and  unprincipled  ring,  long  intrenched  in 
power  and  strengthened  by  spoils,  constitutes  at  once  the  most 
valuable  lesson  and  the  most  useful  result  of  the  recent  revolt  in 
Baltimore. 


88  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF    RICHMOND,   VA. 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   RICHMOND,  VA. 


VIRGINIUS  NEWTON,  ESQ. 


No  people  have  been  called  upon  to  adjust  their  corporate 
life  and  well  being  to  conditions  quite  so  complex  as  those  about 
us  in  this  country.  Should  your  deliberations  blaze  the  path 
that  leads  to  the  efficient  and  economic  results  we  have  hitherto 
sought  in  vain,  the  honor  and  the  just  repute  that  follow  faithful 
and  unselfish  service  are  yours.  No  higher  reward  awaits  those 
whose  motives,  and  whose  labors,  alike  disinterested,  are  de- 
voted to  the  general  good  of  the  greatest  number. 

Mr.  Bryce,  in  his  masterful  work,  "  The  American  Com- 
monwealth," regarding  our  municipal  life  as  the  one  conspic- 
uous failure  in  the  country,  attributes  much  of  its  corruption 
and  inefficiency  to  the  administrative  control  exercised  by  the 
committees  of  the  Council,  which  have  the  evils  of  secrecy, 
irresponsibility  and  the  severance  of  the  several  city  depart- 
ments from  one  another. 

An  equally  laborious  student  and  judicious  observer,  who 
has  won  his  way  to  our  attentive  consideration,  Mr.  Albert 
Shaw,  finds  the  excellence  of  municipal  government  in  Great 
Britain  in  the  concentration  of  all  corporate  authority  and  re- 
sponsibility in  a  Council,  and  commends  to  our  adoption  this 
government  of  a  group  of  men — a  grand  committee  of  the  cor- 
poration, subdivided  into  just  such  committees,  to  wield  all  the 
administrative  functions  of  the  municipality.  He  regards  the 
present  trend  in  this  country  to  increase  the  power  and  respon- 
sibility of  the  mayor  as  the  plan  of  a  periodically  elective  dicta- 
torship— a  Cromwellian  protector — who  must  eventually  swal- 
low the  Council,  or  be  swallowed  by  it. 

With  the  exception  that  our  Council  is  bicameral,  and  our 
mayor  (with  powers  similar  to  those  of  English  mayors)  not  a 


VIRGINIUS    NEWTON.  89 


member  of  either  chamber,  we  have  a  city  government  somewhat 
similar,  in  which  the  unusual  homogeneity  of  its  people  must 
act  to  mitigate  the  differences,  and  yet  its  excellencies  are  con- 
spicuous in  being  hid  from  a  candid  observer. 

Widely  different  results,  under  somewhat  similar  forms, 
indicate  a  difference  of  conditions.  The  sovereignty  of  unquali- 
fied suffrage  here  creates  the  politician  of  the  slums — a  potent 
factor  in  our  misgovernment.  There  a  suffrage,  based  upon 
rate  paying,  totally  excludes  the  slums,  and  is  potently  con- 
ducive to  a  self-disfranchisement,  which  prefers  to  avoid  tax- 
ation. 

If  I  have  read  aright  the  tenor  and  weight  of  your  deliber- 
ations, they  point  to  the  conclusion  that  such  relief  from  mis- 
government  as  we  look  for  must  come,  not  from  the  consolida- 
tion of  municipal  power  in  one  chamber,  but  the  rigid  severance, 
within  metes  and  bounds,  which  is  exemplified  in  our  federal 
and  State  organization.  To  the  Municipal  Council  the  legisla- 
tive function  solely ;  to  the  mayor  the  administrative  function 
and  a  correlative  responsibility ;  the  application  of  civil  service 
rules,  and,  presumably,  proportional  representation  in  the 
Council. 

The  charter  of  the  city  of  Richmond  was  passed  May  24th, 
1870.  Its  original  form,  however  immature,  was  at  least  simple 
and  direct ;  but  frequent  amendments  have  given  it  the  quality 
of  hybridism. 

The  officers  chosen  by  the  direct  vote  of  the  people  are : 
The  mayor,  for  two  years;  thirty  councilmen,  five  from  each 
ward,  for  two  years  ;  eighteen  aldermen,  three  from  each  ward, 
one-half  being  chosen  every  two  years  for  a  full  term  of  four 
years ;  an  auditor,  tax  collector,  commissioner  of  the  revenue, 
commonwealth's  attorney,  sheriff,  city  sergeant  and  high  con- 
stable, for  two  years;  city  treasurer,  for  three  years,  and  clerks 
of  the  Circuit,  Chancery,  Hustings  and  Law  and  Equity  Courts, 
for  six  years. 

The  Council  appoints  a  city  attorney,  city  engineer,  city 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   RICHMOND,   VA. 


clerk  and  superintendents  for  the  several  departments  of  gas, 
water,  charities,  health,  parks,  cemeteries  and  buildings. 

The  powers  of  the  mayor  are  the  general  powers  of  super- 
vision, and  removal  for  cause,  of  all  city  officials,  conferred  by 
the  constitution  of  the  state,  to  which  are  added  the  powers  of  a 
justice  of  the  peace  and  a  veto  power  on  all  municipal  legisla- 
tion, which,  however,  can  be  overriden  by  a  majority  vote  of  the 
members-elect  to  the  Council. 

Holding  the  semblance  and  not  the  reality  of  power,  the 
incumbent  of  this  office  has  become  our  official  figure-head, 
solely. 

The  Council,  which  is  bicameral,  has  the  entire  control  of 
the  fiscal  and  municipal  affairs  of  the  city,  and  administers  its 
business  through  standing  committees  of  the  two  bodies.  A 
majority  of  the  members  of  each  branch  constitute  a  quorum 
for  business,  but  a  two-thirds  vote  of  all  the  members  elected  to 
each  branch  is  requisite  to  pass  appropriations  in  excess  of  $100  ; 
impose  taxes  or  borrow  money;  and  no  ordinance  appropriating 
money  in  excess  of  $1000,  imposing  taxes  or  authorizing  the 
borrowing  of  money,  can  be  passed  by  the  two  branches  on  the 
same  day  ;  and  is  invalid  unless  three  days  at  least  intervene  be- 
tween its  passage  by  the  said  branches  respectively.  The  yea 
and  nay  vote  must  be  entered  on  the  journal  of  each  branch. 
The  Council  is  prohibited  from  appropriating  money  to,  or  sub- 
scribing to,  the  stock  of  any  company  incorporated  for  internal 
improvements  or  other  purposes  without  a  three-fourths  vote  of 
the  legal  voters,  and  a  majority  vote  of  the  registered  free- 
holders. The  bonded  or  interest-bearing  debt  is  limited  to 
eighteen  per  cent,  of  the  assessed  value  of  the  taxable  real 
estate,  and  a  sinking  fund  of  one  per  cent,  annually  must  be 
created  for  the  debt  outstanding. 

The  charter  provides  for  a  Board  of  Public  Interests,  of 
which  the  president  of  the  Common  Council  is  ex-officio  chair- 
man. It  is  composed  of  three  members  of  the  Council,  two  of 
the  Board  of  Aldermen  and  five  citizens,  three  of  whom  are 
chosen  by  the  Council  and  two  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen.  Its 


VIRG1NIUS    NEWTON.  9! 


function  is  to  take  into  consideration  all  works  of  internal  im- 
provement, the  commercial,  industrial  and  manufacturing  inter- 
ests of  the  city,  to  watch  over  and  take  care  of  its  means  of 
transportation  and  connection  with  the  rest  of  the  country,  and 
to  make  such  reports  and  recommendations  to  the  City  Council 
as  will  best  subserve  the  different  interests  of  the  city.  The  duty 
of  selecting  and  presenting  to  the  Council  the  names  of  citizens 
to  serve  upon  the  Police  and  Fire  Board  is  also  conferred  upon 
the  Board  of  Public  Interests. 

It  is,  perhaps,  needless  to  say  that  the  advisory  powers  com- 
mitted to  this  Board  are  fully  honored  in  the  breach,  and  their 
chief  function  is  now  the  selection  of  the  persons  nominated  to 
the  Council  for  service  as  commissioners  in  the  Fire  and  Police 
Boards. 

The  Board  of  Public  Interests  is  charged  with  inefficiency 
and  partisan  conduct.  It  is  the  creation  of  the  Council,  and  the 
majority  of  the  Board  is  of  their  membership ;  its  demerits  and 
unrepresentative  character  must,  therefore,  be  borne  by  that 
body. 

The  Police  Department  is  under  the  control  of  a  Board  of 
six  citizens,  one  from  each  ward,  nominated  by  the  Board  of 
Public  Interests,  and  chosen  by  the  Council  on  a  majority  vote  of 
the  members  elect  in  each  branch.  The  mayor  is  ex-officio 
chairman  of  this  Board,  but  has  no  vote,  except  in  case  of  a  tie. 

The  Fire  Department  is  also  managed  by  a  Board  of  six 
citizens,  nominated  and  chosen  in  the  same  manner  as  those 
constituting  the  Police  Board. 

The  Police  Commission  and  the  Fire  Commission  have 
given  good  results,  the  latter  particularly  so.  It  has  had  more 
scope  for  development,  and  having  received,  under  a  special  pro- 
vision of  the  charter,  an  annual  sum  not  less  than  the  annual 
appropriation  the  year  preceding  its  organization,  it  has  main- 
tained the  department  in  a  high  state  of  efficiency;  more  than 
doubled  its  number  of  permanent  men,  and  expended  some 
$75,000,  saved  out  of  its  appropriations  in  the  purchase  of  four 
new  steam  engines,  one  chemical  engine,  eight  new  hose  wagons, 


92  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   RICHMOND,   VA. 

the  erection  of  a  $10,000  headquarters  building,  a  new  engine- 
house  and  other  real  estate  for  future  uses,  remodeling  its  en- 
tire plant  and  overhauling  all  apparatus  not  new. 

The  members  of  the  Council  and  of  the  several  boards  or 
commissions  receive  no  salary. 

The  almost  entire  absence  of  a  foreign  element  in  our  popu- 
lation has  preserved  its  homogeneity.  The  chief  complexity  in 
our  municipal  politics  has  arisen  from  the  enfranchisement  of 
the  negro,  but  this  race,  being  in  a  minority,  secures  representa- 
tion in  one  ward  of  the  city  only. 

We  have  had  some  few  defalcations  amongst  the  appointive 
and  elective  officeholders  of  the  city,  but  have  happily  been 
exempt,  we  believe,  from  the  corruptions  and  malversations 
which  have  arisen  in  other  cities  of  the  country.  Our  municipal 
condition,  however,  is  far  from  satisfactory.  Our  administration 
is  neither  judicious  nor  economical.  Questions  of  appropriation 
do  not  receive  mature  deliberation,  results  in  nearly  all  depart- 
ments are  not  the  best  of  their  kind,  and  the  disposition  of  the 
Council  has  been,  and  now  is,  to  exceed  annually  the  current 
revenues  of  the  city. 

The  presence  of  the  negro  as  a  citizen  and  voter  enforces 
the  casting  at  each  election  of  a  higher  percentage  of  the  full 
white  vote  than  would,  perhaps,  under  other  circumstances,  be 
secured.  Civic  spirit,  or  zeal,  to  secure  in  ward  meetings  or 
primaries  the  nomination  and  election  of  representative  citizens 
to  office  and  to  service  in  the  Council,  is  quite  indifferent,  if  not 
altogether  absent.  Professional  men,  merchants  and  manufac- 
turers, as  a  rule,  refuse  nominations,  under  the  plea  of  the  exac- 
tions of  time  and  labor  imposed  by  municipal  service. 

Those  qualified  by  property  interests,  intelligence,  character 
and  relief  from  the  necessity  of  an  active  business  career  refuse 
to  give  service,  under  an  abiding  impression  of  the  annoyance 
and  general  disagreeableness  of  the  duties  and  associations  of 
councilmen.  We  have  no  exemption  from  that  fearful  palsy  to 
civic  duty  which  afflicts  the  whole  country,  which  enjoys  the 


VIRGINIUS    NEWTON.  93 


privileges  of  citizenship,  such  as  they  are,  but  claims  "  the  irre- 
sponsibility of  the  subject." 

Our  Chamber  of  Commerce,  impressed  with  the  apparent 
efficiency  and  economy  secured  in  the  administration  of  the  Fire 
Department,  by  a  commission,  as  compared  with  that  of  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Council,  held  in  December,  1895,  a  discussion  upon 
the  merits  of  the  two  methods.  The  argument,  sustained  by 
some  experience,  led  the  Chamber  to  advocate  the  extension  of 
the  commission  plan  to  the  Gas  and  Financial  Departments  of 
the  city.  A  Committee  of  Seven  was  duly  appointed,  composed 
of  lawyers  and  representative  business  men  and  taxpayers,  to 
draft  and  report  to  the  chamber  the  laws  necessary  thereto. 
After  two  months  of  faithful  and  disinterested  labor  the  report 
of  the  committee  was  presented  to  the  chamber,  duly  discussed 
in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  adopted  and  referred  to  the  Special 
Committee  to  present  to  the  legislature  for  enactment. 

The  committee  held  a  conference  with  our  delegation  to 
the  legislature.  The  general  purposes  and  features  of  the  bills 
received  the  personal  approval  of  the  delegation.  The  commit- 
tee readily  accepted  such  modifications  in  the  details  as  were 
suggested,  and,  upon  the  assurance  of  the  whole  delegation,  that 
a  clause,  submitting  the  amendments  to  the  vote  of  the  people, 
would  secure  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  delegation  and  its 
speedy  passage  through  the  legislature,  the  committee  so  drafted 
the  bills  and  submitted  the  same  to  the  proper  committee  of 
the  house.  When  the  bills  came  up  in  committee  they  were 
promptly  antagonized  by  the  well-defined  genus  of  the  ward 
politician  and  officeholder,  and  upon  the  motion  of  a  member  of 
our  state  delegation,  and  under  the  privileges  of  courtesy,  con- 
sideration was  postponed  for  four  days  that  city  delegations  from 
the  ward  clubs  might  confer  with  the  state  delegation.  This 
conference  resulted  as  all  such  conferences  do,  and  the  promised 
unanimity  of  the  state  delegation  was  made  abortive.  The  Spe- 
cial Committee  in  charge  of  the  bills  promptly  declined  to  make 
a  canvass  before  the  legislature,  to  be  followed  by  another  on 
the  same  lines  before  the  people.  The  proposed  amendments 


94  MUNICIPAL    CONDITION    OF    RICHMOND,    VA. 

were  withdrawn  from  the  legislature  and  the  case  was  appealed 
on  its  merits  to  the  people. 

Judicious  and  beneficial  laws,  approved  by  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  endorsed  by  the  Tobacco  and  the  Grain  and  Cotton 
Exchanges,  ultimately  to  be  submitted  to  the  whole  people, 
were  thus  stifled  in  committee  by  methods  not  unfamiliar  to 
you,  in  which  the  potent  influence  seems  to  be  in  a  ratio  inverse 
to  the  unrepresentative  capacity  of  those  who  wield  it.  Great 
evils  enforce  great  lessons  and  suggest  remedies  which  may- 
mitigate  their  effects.  Such  seems  to  be  the  result  of  our  first 
movement  to  secure  efficiency  and  economy  in  our  municipal 
affairs.  The  unwise  and  undemocratic  procedure  of  some  of  the 
members  of  our  state  delegation  in  its  treatment  of  a  matured 
plan  to  be  submitted  to  the  people  has  aroused  the  press  and 
the  representative  classes  of  the  city  to  the  pressing  need  of 
taking  charge  of  their  affairs. 

A  Democratic  League  for  Good  Government  was  promptly 
formed,  to  make  the  issue  within  party  lines,  for  the  exigencies 
of  our  politics  admit  of  no  other  solution.  The  League  has  re- 
ceived the  earnest  support  of  all  classes  of  citizens  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  the  city.  Its  membership  quickly  reached  some 
six  thousand,  or  more,  who  have  zealously  entered  upon  ward 
and  general  organization,  with  the  intent  and  purpose  to  make 
an  effective  change  for  the  better  and  secure  in  our  May  elec- 
tions a  more  representative  local  legislature,  and  ultimately  a 
charter  more  in  line  with  the  teachings  and  necessities  of  the 
hour. 

The  formation  of  the  League  has  already  driven  our  present 
Council  to  a  conservatism  in  its  budget,  which  is  commented 
upon  and  viewed  as  a  grateful  and  necessary  change  of  front. 

Addendum. — The  election  for  a  new  Council  was  held  April 
3Oth.  The  League  made  the  issue  upon  the  platform  of  econ- 
omy and  a  more  representative  Council  ticket.  Councilmen 
were  nominated  and  endorsed  in  four  out  of  the  six  wards  of 
the  city,  and  their  election  secured  by  a  decisive  vote,  thus  ob- 


VIRGINIUS    NEWTON.  95 


taining  a  two-third  representation  in  the  Council,  pledged  to 
maintain  the  purposes  of  the  League.  It  must  be  said,  how- 
ever, in  all  candor,  that,  whilst  the  League  received  the  hearty 
suffrage  of  representative  men  of  all  classes,  it  failed  to  secure 
to  the  full  extent  desired,  that  personal  sacrifice  to  duty  and 
acceptance  of  office  on  their  part,  without  which  all  such  move- 
ments can  but  be  regarded  as  reaching  a  partial  success. 


O/>  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   ATLANTA. 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF  ATLANTA. 


A.   H.   DAVIS,  ESQ. 


The  present  charter  of  Atlanta  was  adopted  in  1874,  since 
which  time  a  number  of  amendments  and  improvements  have 
been  wrought  into  it  by  legislative  enactment.  It  probably  does 
not  differ  much  from  the  charters  of  many  other  enlightened  and 
progressive  cities.  The  various  departments  of  the  municipal 
government  are  clearly  defined,  and  are  calculated  to  act  as  in- 
dependently as  consists  with  the  central  object  of  its  existence 
— the  common  welfare.  The  powers  of  government  are  vested 
in  a  mayor  and  General  Council.  The  mayor,  of  course,  is  the 
chief  executive,  and  exercises  a  veto  power  on  the  actions  of  the 
Council.  He  is  elected  by  the  people  for  a  term  of  two  years, 
and  is  ineligible  to  re-election.  The  General  Council  is  the 
legislative  body.  It  consists  of  two  bodies,  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men and  the  Council.  Two  councilmen  are  elected  from  each 
ward  for  two  years,  and  there  are  six  aldermen  chosen  from  the 
city  at  large  to  serve  for  three  years.  The  elections  are  so  held 
that  there  is  a  rotation  in  vacancies  by  which  one  councilman 
from  each  ward,  making  one-half  of  all,  goes  out  every  year. 
Thus  each  ward  is  always  represented  by  one  councilman  of  one 
year's  experience  and  by  one  fresh  councilman.  One-third  of 
the  Aldermanic  Board  retires  each  year,  so  that  it  always  con- 
sists of  two-thirds  experience  and  one-third  new  blood.  Though 
councilmen  are  elected  from  specified  wards,  the  whole  people 
elect  all  of  them,  which  tends  to  secure  better  representatives, 
and,  therefore,  better  government.  Another  reason  for  this 
mode  of  election  will  be  mentioned  presently.  Both  council- 
men  and  aldermen  are  ineligible  to  re-election  either  as  council- 
men  or  aldermen. 


A.    H.    DAVIS.  97 

The  rate  of  taxation  is  fixed  by  the  charter  and  can  be  in- 
creased only  in  case  of  emergency.  But  no  such  emergency 
has  ever  arisen  during  the  twenty-two  years  in  which  the  present 
charter  has  been  in  force.  At  the  same  time  the  revenue  from 
all  sources  is  barely  adequate  for  running  expenses  and  the 
sinking  fund,  so  that  there  is  no  opportunity  for  waste  or  cor- 
ruption. 

The  Council  can  incur  no  debt  beyond  the  current  income 
of  the  year.  Bonds  may  be  issued  for  municipal  purposes  when 
authorized  by  Council  and  by  the  people  in  an  election  held  for 
that  purpose.  But  the  whole  debt  so  created  cannot  exceed 
seven  per  cent,  of  the  taxable  property  in  the  city. 

Any  motion  to  expend  the  money  or  increase  the  debt  of 
the  city  must  be  acted  on  separately  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen 
and  the  Council  and  receive  a  majority  vote  in  each  body.  If 
such  a  measure  is  vetoed  by  the  mayor,  to  pass  it  over  his  veto 
requires  a  two-thirds  vote  of  each  body  acting  separately.  In 
all  other  matters  the  aldermen  and  councilmen  sit  as  one  body, 
deliberating  and  voting  together,  each  member,  whether  alder- 
man or  councilman,  having  one  vote.  And  in  all  other  matters 
the  mayor's  veto  may  be  overridden  by  two-thirds  vote  of  the 
joint  Council. 

The  revenue  is  carefully  estimated  at  the  beginning  of  each 
administration  and  an  apportionment  sheet  made  out,  prescrib- 
ing the  respective  amounts  to  be  devoted  to  each  subject  of  ex- 
penditure. In  this  way  is  known,  before  any  money  is  in  sight, 
the  exact  channel  it  will  have  to  take,  and  woe  betide  the  man 
if  any  be  bold  enough  to  seek  to  divert  it  from  its  predestined 
course.  The  purposes  for  which  the  city's  money  may  be  spent 
are  purely  municipal  and  carefully  specified  in  the  charter. 

The  details  of  the  government  are  worked  out  through 
separate  departments,  which  are  to  a  large  extent  independent. 
The  Police  Board,  Water  Board,  Board  of  Education,  Board  of 
Fire  Masters,  etc.,  have  charge  of  the  practical  workings,  each 
of  its  particular  subject. 

The  members  of  these  Boards  are  elected  by  the  Council, 


98  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   ATLANTA. 

but  are  for  the  most  part  a  law  unto  themselves,  under  the 
charter,  of  course.  Most  of  the  chief  ministerial  officers  are 
elected  by  the  people.  An  alderman  or  councilman  or  other 
city  officer,  as  a  rule,  can  be  nothing  else.  He  is  incapacitated 
from  holding  any  other  office — State,  federal  or  municipal.  The 
system  of  fees  for  ministerial  officers  has  been  abolished,  and 
they  now  serve  for  reasonable  salaries. 

We  think  we  have  a  good  charter;  it  works  well.  The 
people  must  like  it,  as  there  are  no  complaints  of  it.  It 
seems  to  be  admirably  adapted  to  our  local  needs. 

In  regard  to  our  political  condition,  the  white  population 
act  together  without  respect  to  party.  Probably  two-fifths  of 
the  population  is  colored,  and  in  some  wards  the  colored  voters 
outnumber  the  white,  but  members  of  the  Council  and  other 
officers  are  elected  by  the  city  at  large,  which  realizes  the  dem- 
ocratic doctrine  of  majority  rule.  There  is  no  party  in  Atlanta. 
It  is  said  there  have  been  cliques,  factions  and  combinations, 
but  there  is  no  party  there. 

We  have  had  several  rather  bitter  elections  under  the  State 
Local  Option  Liquor  Law,  which  caused  a  division  of  the  citizens 
into  two  great  parties — prohibitionists  and  anti-prohibitionists — 
but  this  question  has  been  laid  at  rest  by  a  very  strict  and  satis- 
factory regulation  of  the  liquor  traffic.  That  is  about  the  only 
subject  on  which  there  has  been  a  great  and  serious  division 
among  our  citizens. 

The  Democrats  are  largely  in  the  majority,  but  we  have 
often  had  Republican  councilmen  and  Republicans  in  other 
offices,  from  mayor  down.  But  these  party  lines  are  not  drawn 
in  local  matters.  The  aim  of  the  people  is  for  a  good,  clean 
government,  and  to  get  this  they  endeavor  to  select  honest  and 
capable  officers  and  representatives.  Our  system  practically 
prevents  the  election  of  colored  men  to  the  city  offices,  but  we 
have  not  yet  discovered  any  cause  to  regret  this.  But  it  must 
not  be  inferred  from  this  that  the  "brother  in  black,"  as  some- 
body called  him,  does  not  have  fair  treatment  in  Atlanta.  The 
truth  is,  the  doors  to  education  and  the  avenues  of  business  are 


A.    H.    DAVIS.  99 

as  wide  open  to  him  in  Atlanta  as  anywhere  on  earth.  You 
would  be  surprised  at  the  number  of  excellent  schools  and 
colleges  located  in  Atlanta  for  the  education  of  the  colored 
people,  and  at  the  number  of  thrifty  and  prosperous  men  among 
them,  some  of  whom  are  large  property  owners.  They  serve  on 
our  juries,  and  some  practice  at  the  bar  and  in  other  professions. 
The  colored  public  schools,  maintained  by  the  city,  are  taught 
by  colored  teachers  exclusively. 

Regarding  the  interest  taken  by  the  citizens  in  the  welfare 
of  the  city,  it  is  universal  and  pervades  every  class.  Perhaps  no1 
better  illustration  of  the  public  spirit  and  patriotism  of  the  peo- 
ple can  be  cited  than  the  recent  Cotton  States  and  International 
Exposition,  the  scope  and  size  of  which  made  it  a  wonderful 
achievement  for  a  city  of  only  one  hundred  thousand  inhab- 
itants. 

As  to  present  efforts  to  improve  conditions,  they  are  largely 
on  material,  rather  than  on  legislative  lines.  As  before  remarked, 
the  charter  is  satisfactory  and  produces  good  results.  Among 
the  recent  amendments,  however,  may  be  mentioned  one  pro- 
hibiting any  city  officer  from  holding  any  other  office,  state, 
federal  or  municipal,  and  rendering  one  already  an  officer  of  any 
government  ineligible  to  city  office ;  and  another  adding  one 
more  member  to  the  Police  Board.  This  board  not  long  since 
was  the  centre  of  a  sensational  political  struggle.  The  board 
originally  consisted  of  five  members.  The  charter  was  amended 
so  as  to  add  the  mayor  as  an  ex-officio  member.  This  made  six, 
and  the  trouble  arose  from  an  even  division  of  the  vote,  a  dead- 
lock, in  other  words,  by  which  the  operations  of  the  Police 
Department  threatened  to  become  demoralized,  if  not  paralyzed. 
The  simple  remedy  of  adding  one  member  has  been  applied  so 
as  to  prevent  tie  votes. 

The  salaries  of  councilmen  have  also  been  reduced  recently 
to  $300,  a  nominal  compensation  for  the  time  and  labor  the 
office  requires.  It  is  certainly  not  large  enough  to  tempt  any 
one  to  seek  the  office  for  what  there  is  in  it. 

In  regard  to   recent  material  improvements,  we  may  men- 


IOO  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   ATLANTA. 

tion  the  building  of  two  new  bridges  across  the  railroad  tracks 
which  divide  the  north  from  the  south  side,  the  establishment  of 
the  Grady  Hospital,  the  erection  of  new  headquarters  for  the 
Police  and  Fire  Departments,  the  extension  of  the  sewer  system, 
and  of  the  street  paving,  the  building  of  the  new  water  works 
system  by  which  the  Chattahoochee  River,  or  so  much  of  it  as 
we  need,  or  will  need  for  many  years  to  come,  is  poured  into  and 
through  the  city.  The  city  has  lately  been  offered  $2,500,000 
for  this  new  water  plant,  which  was  refused. 

As  to  suggested  improvements  in  legislation,  it  seems  advis- 
able to  extend  the  subjects,  on  which  separate  action  by  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  and  the  Councilmanic  Board  shall  be  re- 
quired. Thus  the  sale  of  public  property,  the  granting  of  im- 
portant franchises,  such  as  street  railways,  telephones,  electric 
lighting,  etc.,  ought  to  be  had  only  upon  separate  action  by  the 
two  bodies.  This  would  necessitate  greater  deliberation  in  the 
action  of  the  Council  and  render  it  more  difficult  to  fix  a  vote 
beforehand  on  any  measure  coming  before  them;  and  the  mayor's 
veto  would  be  more  effective. 

There  is  another  matter  in  which  there  is  room  for  improve- 
ment— namely,  the  assessment  of  property  for  taxation.  The 
city  now  has  three  official  assessors  who  are  required  each  year 
to  assess  all  the  real  estate.  While  our  rate  of  taxation  is  rather 
high,  one  and  a  half  per  cent.,  the  assessments  are  low,  so  that 
the  burden  of  taxation  is  not  so  heavy  as  it  would  appear  to  be. 
The  assessors  do  their  work  very  well,  yet  there  is  great  inequal- 
ity in  the  assessments.  We  need  some  provision  for  equalizing 
the  assessments.  Either  this  should  be  done  by  assessors,  or 
we  should  have  an  equalization  board. 

Taking  a  general  view  of  our  municipal  condition  we 
have  all  the  improvements  of  a  modern  city — any  quantity  of 
fine  water  at  a  nominal  cost  to  the  consumer ;  sixty -one  miles 
of  paved  streets ;  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  of  paved  side- 
walks; sixty-one  miles  of  sewers,  including  mains  and  lateral 
sewers  ;  electric  lights ;  a  fine  system  of  public  schools ;  a  well- 
regulated  police  department  and  a  very  efficient  fire  department. 


A.    H.    DAVIS.  IOI 

The  city's  debt  is  not  quite  $3,000,000,  and  for  every  dollar 
which  the  city  owes  she  has  nearly  two  dollars  of  actual  prop- 
erty. The  rate  of  interest  on  this  debt  has  been  constantly  de- 
creasing; $400,000  of  bonds,  issued  in  1870-1,  and  $95,000,  in 
1877,  bear  eight  per  cent;  $718,000,  issued  in  1870,  bear  seven 
per  cent;  $55,000,  in  1884,  bear  six  per  cent;  $102,500,  in 
1881,  1885  and  1891,  bear  five  per  cent;  $1,039,500,  in  1886, 
1887,  1888,  1889  and  1892,  and  $46,500,  issued  in  1895,  bear 
four  and  one-half  per  cent;  and  $488,000,  issued  in  1890,  1891, 
1892,  1893  and  1896,  bear  four  per  cent.  The  last  issue,  in 
1896,  was  to  replace  bonds  then  falling  due,  which  bore  six  per 
cent,  and  the  whole  issue  was  taken  by  a  local  bank  at  four  per 
cent  flat  Practically,  all  bonds  bearing  over  five  per  cent  will 
mature  within  ten  years  and  be  refunded  at  lower  interest,  except 
such  as  are  paid  by  the  sinking  fund.  Fifty  thousand  dollars  of 
the  debt  was  paid  off  last  year. 

And  last,  but  not  least,  under  the  present  charter  for  twen- 
ty-two years,  to  say  nothing  of  previous  history,  the  city  has 
never  lost  by  misappropriation  or  embezzlement  of  its  funds. 
We  have  never  had  the  "  boodle  alderman  "  trouble  or  any  par- 
allel to  it  Charges  of  bribery  were  not  long  since  preferred 
against  some  of  the  detective  department,  but  the  charges  were 
not  established. 


IO2  MUNICIPAL  CONDITION   OF   NASHVILLE,   TENN. 


MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF    NASHVILLE, 

TENN. 


A.  V.  S.  LINDSLEY,  ESQ. 


I  regret  very  much  to  be  compelled  to  say  that  in  the  sec- 
tion from  which  I  have  the  pleasure  of  hailing  there  is  as  yet  no 
organization,  such  as  is  now  known  in  so  many  other  of  our 
American  cities,  as  a  Good  Government  Club.  The  nearest  ap- 
proach we  have  to  this  great  modern  municipal  civilizer  is  a 
committee  of  fifteen  gentlemen  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  Nashville  upon  city  and  State  development.  Of  this  commit- 
tee I  have  the  honor  of  being  a  member,  and  this  fact  probably 
accounts  for  the  infliction  of  my  presence  here  upon  you  this 
afternoon.  In  my  capacity  as  chairman  of  this  committee,  I  was 
invited  to  attend  the  second  annual  meeting  in  Cincinnati  last 
September  of  the  National  Society  of  Municipal  Improvement. 
The  members  of  this  Society,  as  you  are  all  doubtless  aware,  are 
the  municipalities  themselves,  or  certain  ones  of  them  at  least, 
and  its  organization  was  an  admission  coming  from  the  rulers  of 
many  of  our  American  cities  that  municipal  affairs  all  over  the 
country  needed  reforming. 

I  also  regret  that,  being  only  a  plain  business  man,  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  entertain  you  quite  as  well  as  a  practiced  speaker 
or  reader  might  be  expected  to  do.  I  trust  I  may  be  able  to 
make  up  in  earnestness  at  least  what  I  lack  in  literary  skill  or 
oratorical  flourish.  May  the  men,  I  say,  who  are  hereafter  to  be 
chosen  to  represent  the  people  of  our  American  cities  in  their 
City  Councils  and  in  the  practical  management  of  all  city  affairs 
from  this  good  day  onward  be  made  to  begin — to  use  a  phrase 
from  Matthew  Arnold — "  to  think  clear  and  see  straight,"  to  the 
end  that  an  entirely  new  era  may  open  up  for  the  government 
of  our  cities. 


A.    V.    S.    LINDSLEY.  1 03 


It  is  said  that  the  New  England  town  government  was  the 
best  possible  form  of  government  that  has  ever  yet  been  devised, 
in  that  it  was  one  in  which  the  people  assembled  in  town  meet- 
ing, dealt  with  those  matters  of  local  government  which  affected 
their  common  welfare  and  happiness.  If  government  could 
always  be  kept  with  the  people  and  exercised  as  in  the  town 
meeting,  there  would  exist  little  danger  of  serious  error.  It  is 
only  when  the  voice  of  the  people  is  not  directly  heard,  when' 
they  are  obliged  to  trust  the  transaction  of  their  affairs  to  others 
and  rely  upon  the  integrity,  patriotism  and  faithfulness  of  their 
servants  that  the  danger  arises  and  the  more  remote  from  the 
people  the  governing  power  is  lodged  the  greater  the  danger. 

The  great  secret  then  of  this  fickle  illusory  will-o'-the-wisp 
that  all  of  our  American  cities  are  now  so  eagerly  and  to  all 
appearances  yet  so  vainly  chasing  in  the  name  of  good  govern- 
ment is  the  simple  procurement  of  such  representatives  where 
their  municipal  matters  or  managements  are  concerned  as  will 
do  the  bidding  of  the  people.  In  other  words,  the  secret  of 
good  government  for  cities  in  the  United  States  resolves  itself 
into  the  following  simple  form :  The  interests  of  the  people 
must  be  conducted  by  those  who  are  entrusted  to  manage  them, 
with  the  same  wise,  careful  and  conservative  judgment  that  a 
competent  business  man  should  use  in  the  transaction  of  his 
own  affairs. 

All  the  newly  patented  up-to-date  charters  or  devices  that 
may  be  discovered  between  this  and  doomsday  will  not  alleviate 
the  condition  of  our  municipalities  as  long  as  they  are  made 
mere  asylums  for  a  certain  class  of  incompetent  or  unsuccessful 
fellows  to  whom  certain  bosses  or  political  managers  may  be 
under  either  political  or  fraternal  obligations.  A  city  is  not  a 
corporation  created  to  furnish  lucrative  positions  to  certain  men 
who  have  been  good  party  workers,  or  who  are  mere  good  fel- 
lows and  have  had  hard  luck  or  need  a  job.  It  is  a  live  business 
corporation,  demanding  the  highest  order  of  ability  in  its  servants 
devotedly  bestowed.  But  I  have  not  been  requested  to  edify  the 
gentlemen  who  have  gathered  together  here  at  this,  the  Fourth 


IO4  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   NASHVILLE,   TENN. 

National  Conference  for  Good  City  Government,  with  a  homily 
of  any  particular  kind  on  city  government  in  the  abstract.  Mr. 
Woodruff's  invitation  to  me  to  prepare  a  paper  for  this  meeting 
is  couched  somewhat  as  follows  :  "  At  this  Conference  we  desire 
to  have  discussed  the  question  of  the  municipal  condition  of 
Nashville,  and  we  should  be  pleased  to  have  you  consider,  first, 
the  present  government  of  your  city  and  its  adaptability  to  local 
needs.  Second,  the  actual  municipal  condition  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  city.  Third,  current  efforts 
to  change  present  conditions."  Now,  it  is  not  to  be  presumed 
that  our  worthy  Secretary,  who  resides  in  that  quiet  little  hamlet 
on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  familiarly  known  as  the  village  of 
Brotherly  Love,  whose  people  all  live  far  from  the  madding 
crowd,  and  whose  only  palladium  of  liberty  is  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  should  have  been  at  all  familiar  with  the  municipal 
history  of  that  mighty,  throbbing  metropolis  of  ours  on  the  banks 
of  the  roaring  Cumberland.  If  he  had  been  his  invitation  would 
have  been  addressed  in  different  words.  He  would,  undoubt- 
edly, have  required  me  to  contrast  our  present  municipal  condi- 
tion with  our  former  one  ;  to  state  to  my  anxious  listeners 
whether  we  were  achieving  much  better  municipal  results  under 
our  new  charter  than  we  did  under  the  beneficent  provisions  of 
our  old  one  ;  to  magnify  the  present,  as  is  our  general  habit  in 
this  day  and  generation,  at  the  expense  of  the  past. 

Be  it  known  to  all  municipal  reformers,  here  present  and 
elsewhere,  that  the  "  Nashville  plan  "  is  "  some  pumpkins."  It 
is  not  only  well  known  within  the  confines  of  the  section  where 
it  was  invented,  but  it  has  been  commented  upon  in  the  Century 
Magazine,  even  if  its  fame  has  not  reached  out  for  the  Review  of 
Reviews  or  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Some  time  in  the  early 
eighties  a  wave  of  municipal  reform  swept  over  our  Athens  of 
the  South.  Our  old  boards,  composed  of  one  alderman  and 
two  councilmen  from  each  ward,  elected  by  the  people  of  the 
ward,  gave  way  to  simply  one  councilman  from  each  ward, 
elected  from  the  town  at  large.  A  Board  of  Public  Works  and 
Affairs  was  constituted,  composed  of  three  gentlemen,  elected 


A.    V.    S.    LINDSLEY.  10$ 


by  the  Council  in  such  manner  as  allowed  one  to  be  chosen 
every  second  year.  The  powers  of  the  legislative  and  executive 
branches  of  the  government  were  separated  and  sharply  defined. 
The  mayor  was  stripped  absolutely  naked  of  all  authority,  made 
a  mere  figure-head  and  deprived  of  all  remuneration  in  the  way 
of  salary.  An  engineer  and  assistant  engineer  were  both  put  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Board.  The  city  attorney  was  put  at  their 
beck  and  call  so  that  every  time  one  of  the  members  turned 
around  he  could  get  competent  legal  advice.  There  was,  of 
course,  a  comptroller,  a  treasurer,  a  recorder,  tax  assessors,  etc., 
through  the  usual  list.  Our  first  mayor  under  the  new  departure 
was  a  patriotic  gentleman,  who  ran  for  the  office  upon  the  dis- 
tinct understanding  that  under  the  terms  of  the  charter  the 
mayoralty  was  an  honor  and  not  a  perquisite.  In  other  words, 
there  was  no  revenue  attached.  The  very  first  thing  the  new 
mayor  did  after  he  had  taken  his  seat  was  to  file  a  bill  in  the 
Chancery  Court  asking  that  a  salary  be  given  him  commensu- 
rate with  the  dignity  of  the  position,  and  this  the  chancellor 
proceeded  to  do,  charter  or  no  charter.  Since  then  this  un- 
salaried  officer,  from  whom  all  power  and  authority  were  taken, 
has  been  in  receipt  of  a  comfortable  monthly  stipend. 

Practically  all  the  executive  work  of  the  city,  as  well  as  the 
patronage  of  the  corporation,  is  at  the  disposal  of  three  members 
of  the  board.  They  appoint  and  remove  policemen  at  will,  in- 
cluding the  chief;  they  appoint  not  only  the  members  of  the  fire 
department,  including  the  chief,  but  the  city  scavengers  and  the 
sanitary  inspectors.  They  let  all  contracts  for  public  work,  and 
they  have  the  power  to  set  aside  the  specifications  of  the  city 
engineer,  as  well  as  the  plans  and  specifications  of  architects  and 
experts  who  may  have  been  employed  to  superintend  certain 
special  buildings,  such  as  school  buildings,  hospitals,  market- 
houses,  city  halls  and  also  such  public  works  as  sewers,  side- 
walks, curbing,  street  crossings,  street  paving,  etc.  Two  votes 
in  the  board  make  a  majority,  so  one  fellow  generally  flocks 
with  another,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  third,  who  draws  the  same 
salary,  it  is  true,  but  who  is  a  mere  figure-head  or  "  bump  on  a 


IO6  MUNICIPAL  CONDITION   OF    NASHVILLE,   TENN. 

log."  Just  at  present  we  have  the  amusing  spectacle  in  the  good 
City  of  Rocks  of  a  newly-elected  reform  Council  and  mayor  and 
two  hold-over  relicts  of  an  ancient,  time-honored  ring  in  the 
Board  of  Public  Works  and  Affairs,  who  pack  with  each  other 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  third  reform  member  who  represents  the 
new  order  of  things,  and  these  two  deal  out  the  city's  patronage 
with  the  serene  confidence  of  the  Christian  who  holds  four  aces. 
Our  budget  for  1896  was  made  out  by  the  Board  of  Public 
Works  and  Affairs  by  a  vote  of  two  to  one  and  disapproved  by 
the  Council  by  a  vote  of  about  twelve  to  eight.  Questions  of 
public  policy  and  improvement  are,  therefore,  frequently  made 
matters  of  personal  or  political  consideration,  the  welfare  of  the 
city  requiring  that  they  should  be  judged  from  a  business  stand- 
point alone. 

An  instance  of  how  public  business  is  transacted  in  our 
city  may  better  illustrate  my  meaning  than  a  whole  ream  of 
closely-written  words,  and  may  serve  as  an  answer  to  all  three 
of  the  questions  propounded  to  me  in  the  Secretary's  letter,  to 
which  I  have  alluded  above.  About  the  time  of  our  city  elec- 
tions last  fall  a  "  'possum  "  supper  was  given  by  some  genial 
fellow  or  fellows,  to  which  the  various  city  officials  and  other 
distinguished  citizens  of  different  political  proclivities  and  affili- 
ations were  invited.  At  this  feast  of  reason  and  flow  of  soul  it 
was  claimed  that  the  chief  of  the  fire  department  became  a  little 
more  than  half  seas  over.  This  was  just  a  little  more  than  our 
new  reform  element  could  stand,  and  his  removal  was  clamored 
for  on  the  ground  that  too  much  conviviality  of  this  kind  was 
not  good  for  the  health,  either  of  the  chief  or  the  municipality. 
The  friends  of  the  chief  rallied  to  his  support,  and  the  issue 
was  joined  before  a  high  court  of  impeachment,  composed  of 
the  members  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works  and  Affairs.  Evi- 
dence was  taken  in  a  solemn  mock-judicial  kind  of  way,  and 
the  result  was  one  of  the  most  unique  specimens  of  political 
circumlocution  probably  now  extant.  The  reform  members 
wanted  the  chief  expelled,  whether  innocent  or  guilty,  so  that 
the  place  that  had  known  him  should  know  him  no  longer,  but 


A.    V.   S.    LINDSLEY. 


be  filled  by  some  member  of  the  new  regime,  many  of  whom 
were  longing  for  some  of  the  loaves  and  fishes.  One  of  the 
hold-over  members  wanted  him  retained,  whether  drunk  or 
sober,  and  the  third  member,  anxious  to  keep  in  with  both  sides, 
wobbled  about  like  a  gudgeon,  and  finally  opined  that  while  he 
thought  the  chief  had  been  too  drunk  for  a  chief,  he  might  still 
make  a  very  good  assistant  chief.  The  upshot  was  that  no 
agreement  could  be  had  as  to  who  would  succeed  the  chief,  and 
so  the  impeachment  failed  disastrously.  The  papers  all  laughed 
these  "judges  "  out  of  court,  and  the  farce  was  over.  One  of 
our  city  newspapers  facetiously  characterized  this  high  court  of 
impeachment  as  a  "  court  of  two  opposite  ends  and  a  see-saw." 

Now,  I  would  not  have  my  hearers  think  that  I  am  engaged 
In  the  unfilial  task  of  underrating  the  value  of  Nashville's  new 
charter.  If  we  could  only  be  always  sure  of  intelligent,  honest, 
enterprising  and  faithful  city  officials  our  charter  could  be  relied 
upon  to  perform  its  part  satisfactorily.  If  a  city  does  not  pos- 
sess good  and  efficient  public  servants  a  good  charter  will  not 
save  the  people  from  bad  government,  nor  can  the  value  of  a 
charter  be  determined  by  the  theorist's  idea  as  to  its  operation. 
It  is  only  by  practical  work  under  it  that  it  must  be  judged.  It 
may  be  here  said  that  the  great  agitations  of  the  day  as  to  mu- 
nicipal reform  have  not  their  origin  in  the  evils  existing  in  the 
form  of  government  in  a  small  city  like  ours,  for  few,  even  if 
any,  evils  exist  in  the  form.  They  arise  entirely  from  active 
forces  of  evil  just  such  as  exert  so  alarming  an  influence  in 
many  of  the  larger  cities  of  this  country,  the  results  of  which 
are  familiar  to  us  all.  If  the  voters  of  Nashville,  or  the  voters 
of  any  other  American  city,  would  look  carefully  to  the  acts  of 
their  public  servants  and  rely  less  upon  the  power  of  their  char- 
ters, the  condition  of  their  municipal  affairs  might  easily  be 
better. 

Speaking  of  municipal  reform,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  in 
a  recent  address  in  Boston,  said :  "  The  great  advance  as  yet 
made,  and  it  is  a  very  great  advance,  is  in  getting  rid,  once  and 
for  all  on  this  issue,  of  the  peculiar  American  belief  that  the 


IO8  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   NASHVILLE,   TENN. 

solution  of  every  political  trouble  is  to  be  found  in  some  paper 
constitutional  device ;  some  ingenious  placing  of  responsibility, 
or  division  of  functions.  That,  in  a  word,  a  governmental  ma- 
chine would  in  this  case  in  time  be  framed,  a  sort  of  nickel-in- 
the-slot  contrivance,  through  which  the  citizens,  by  depositing  a 
vote  in  the  ballot  box  on  a  specified  day,  can  secure  good  govern- 
ment for  the  rest  of  the  year  without  further  inconvenience  to- 
himself.  I  have  watched  the  working  of  one  or  two  of  these 
patent  inventions — notably  one  in  my  former  home  at  Quincy — 
and  the  practical  result  has  been  always  the  same  ;  a  result  sad, 
but  instructive.  The  difficulty,  too,  has  always  developed  from 
the  same  quarter;  from  the  legislative  side  of  the  machine; 
and,  as  it  has  appeared  to  me,  for  the  same  manifest  reason,  to 
wit :  That  this  was  the  weak  point  in  the  machine." 

In  Nashville  we  possess  the  very  latest  and,  to  all  appear- 
ances, the  best  of  these  new  paper  designs  for  good  government. 
Our  mayor,  it  is  true,  might  well  have  a  little  wider  field  or  scope 
for  the  exercise  of  such  power  or  authority  as  should  appertain- 
to  the  chief  magistracy  of  a  city  of  our  size  and  importance.  I 
believe  it  is  generally  conceded  that  the  experience  of  American 
cities  will  show  that  it  is  wise  to  give  -the  mayor  a  good  deal  of 
sway.  He  should  be  the  king  or  monarch  of  his  city;  but  it  is 
also  yet  a  matter  of  difference  of  opinion  concerning  the  wisdom 
of  giving  him  absolute  power  either  of  appointment  or  removal. 
At  any  rate,  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  deprive  him  of  all  authority 
and  to  make  him,  as  we  have  made  our  mayor  in  Nashville,  a 
mere  figure-head  in  the  community  of  which  he  is  chief  magis- 
trate. 

Our  charter,  like  that  of  the  Bullitt  Charter  t>f  Philadelphia, 
might  have  well  made  sufficiency  in  office  a  ground  for  impeach- 
ment and  removal,  just  as  it  has  made  corruption  or  malfeasance 
in  office.  We  might  have  well  had  the  same  method  of  ruling 
our  police  force  that  was  adopted  in  Cincinnati  a  few  years  ago. 
In  that  city  the  Board  of  Police  Commissioners  is  composed  of 
four  electors  of  the  city,  who  are  appointed  by  the  governor  of 
Ohio.  Not  more  than  two  members  belonging  to  the  same 


A.    V.    S.    LINDSLEY.  109 


political  party.  The  mayor  is  a  member  of  the  board  ex-officio,  and 
hence  no  tie  votes  are  possible,  and  the  electors  of  the  city  can 
hold  him  responsible  for  the  condition  of  the  department.  Our 
Board  of  Public  Works  and  Affairs  might  well  be  composed  of 
the  mayor,  the  city  attorney  and  some  good  practical  judge  of 
constructive  work  elected  every  other  year  by  the  Council,  thus 
saving  two  annual  salaries ;  but  with  these  few  alterations  our 
device  in  the  way  of  a  charter  seems  to  work  quite  well,  and  yet, 
nevertheless,  the  city  is  between  $3,000,000  and  14,000,000  in 
debt,  our  percentage  of  bonded  indebtedness  to  total  taxable 
valuation  a  very  heavy  one,  and  as  a  result  we  enjoy  an  unpleas- 
antly large  assessment  of  our  property  for  purposes  of  taxation 
and  a  levy  of  fifteen  mills  to  supply  our  treasury  with  its  neces- 
sary annual  outlay.  It  is  no  wonder  to  me,  therefore,  that  the 
mayor  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  where  an  old-fashioned  charter  is 
still  in  operation,  where  a  bonded  indebtedness  reaches  about 
forty  one-hundredths  of  one  per  cent,  of  taxable  valuation,  and 
where  a  tax  of  twelve  mills  levy  supplies  annual  sinews  of  war 
for  State,  county  and  city,  in  a  recent  address  to  the  City  Council 
when  the  question  of  adopting  a  certain  proposed  new  charter 
for  the  city  government  was  raised,  said  :  "  Gentlemen,  we  shall 
act  wisely  to  allow  others  to  experiment  with  so-called  up-to- 
date  charters,  and  when  it  is  anywhere  demonstrated  by  practical 
tests  and  experience  that  they  operate  better  than  ours  for  the 
welfare  of  a  city  and  its  inhabitants,  it  will  be  ample  time  for  us 
to  make  a  change." 


IIO  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF    MEMPHIS,   TENN. 


MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF  MEMPHIS,  TENN, 


JAMES  H.  MALONE,  ESQ. 


If  the  history  of  the  municipalities  of  this  country  is  ever 
written  Memphis  will  occupy  a  unique  position  therein.  Her 
fortunes  and  misfortunes,  out  of  which  the  present  government 
has  been  evolved,  are  in  all  probability  without  a  parallel.  At 
the  risk  of  possibly  transgressing,  I  will  give  a  condensed  state- 
ment of  the  facts  leading  to  our  present  form  of  government, 
deeming  such  a  statement  necessary  for  the  proper  understand- 
ing of  our  municipal  affairs. 

By  the  general  improvement  act  of  1851-52,  passed  by  the 
Legislature  of  Tennessee,  a  great  impetus  was  given  to  all  sorts 
of  enterprises,  and  especially  to  railway  building,  and  Memphis 
for  the  first  time  assumed  importance  as  one  of  the  coming 
commercial  centres.  Subscriptions  were  at  once  made  to  various 
railroads,  commencing  when  the  town  had  only  a  population  of 
8000  people,  the  subscriptions  in  the  aggregate  amounting  to 
$1,300,000;  and  although  stock  was  subscribed  for  on  behalf  of 
the  municipality,  it  received  very  small  returns  therefor. 

Then  came  the  civil  war,  with  all  of  its  devastations  and 
wrecks  and  ruins  of  fortune  in  this  section  of  the  country,  and 
immediately  after  the  war,  and  before  the  real  owners  of  the 
town  again  resumed  power,  municipal  affairs  drifted  into  the 
hands  of  all  sorts  of  incompetent  and  dishonest  officials.  Dur- 
ing this  period  an  indebtedness  of  $1,500,000  was  incurred  for 
building  what  was  commonly  called  the  Nicholson  pavements, 
at  extravagant  prices,  and  which  began  to  rot  almost  before  the 
entire  work  was  completed.  The  credit  of  the  city  was  at  a 
low  ebb  and  scrip  was  issued,  and  there  being  no  funds  on  hand 
to  redeem  the  scrip,  the  city  was  compelled  to  pay  extravagant 


JAMES    H.    MALONE.  Ill 


prices  for  material  and  for  work.  Then  so-called  funding  meas- 
ures were  set  on  foot,  and  the  facts,  as  disclosed  afterwards  by 
reports  of  committees,  showed  that  one  Swan  and  associates, 
having  purchased  $275,000  of  scrip  at  a  discount  of  from 
twenty-seven  to  thirty-five  cents  on  the  dollar,  made  a  contract 
with  the  mayor,  which  was  never  reduced  to  writing,  or  passed 
upon  officially  by  the  board  of  mayor  and  aldermen,  by  the 
terms  of  which  for  every  sixty-five  dollars  of  scrip  the  city 
agreed  and  did  issue  to  Swan  and  his  associates  a  bond  of  the 
city  for  $100.  This  is  one  instance  of  the  peculation  carried  on. 
During  the  years  1867,  '68  and  '69  bonds  were  issued  and  dis- 
posed of  for  various  purposes,  from  which  the  city  realized 
$1,384,736.71,  the  loss  on  discounts,  etc.,  in  the  negotiations  of 
these  bonds  amounted  to  $904,263.29. 

One  other  example  of  the  manner  in  which  the  city  was 
robbed  will  be  given  among  many  of  the  same  kind.  On  August 
1 8th,  1 869,  by  entry  on  the  books  it  appears  that  the  city  made 
its  note  for  $5000,  secured  by  $4000  of  the  city  bonds  as  col- 
lateral security.  The  note  was  sold  for  seventy-five  cents  on  the 
dollar,  and  not  being  paid  at  maturity,  the  collaterals  were  sold 
for  forty -seven  and  a  half  cents,  and  so,  after  calculating  the 
losses  upon  the  transaction  according  to  the  books  as  they  now 
stand,  they  amounted  to  $3556.66. 

In  1870  the  city  government  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
good  people  of  the  town  for  the  first  time,  John  Johnson  being 
elected  mayor.  But  the  affairs  of  the  city  were  already  so  en- 
tangled that  its  redemption  was  well-nigh  impossible,  and  such 
proved  to  be  the  case.  In  1876  the  bonded  and  floating  debt  of 
the  city  was  over  $6,000,000,  and  another  heroic  effort  in  the 
way  of  compromise  was  attempted,  but  proved  futile.  All 
sorts  of  scrip  had  been  issued,  and  was  at  a  great  discount,  and 
was  receivable  for  nearly  almost  all  taxes ;  hence,  those  who 
paid  taxes  generally  paid  in  scrip ;  and,  to  add  to  the  embarrass- 
ment, numerous  mandamus  suits  were  instituted  in  the  State  and 
federal  courts,  and  these,  together  with  injunction  suits  on  be_ 
half  of  taxpayers,  rendered  the  city  authorities  almost  power- 


112  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   MEMPHIS,    TENN. 

less  to  raise  money  sufficient  to  pay  current  expenses,  to  say 
nothing  of  paying  interest  or  the  principal  of  the  debt. 

In  1878  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  spread  over  the  city, 
thousands  of  the  best  citizens  were  buried  and  thousands  fled  the 
town,  and  it  became  a  question  whether  the  city  could  stand  the 
strain  of  plague,  pestilence,  famine  and  debt,  and  this  epidemic 
was  followed  by  another  in  1879,  but  not  quite  so  severe. 

In  January,  1879,  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee  abolished 
the  charter  of  the  city,  removed  its  officials  from  office  and 
forbade  them  the  power  of  taxation.  By  another  act  the  gov- 
ernor was  directed  to  appoint  a  receiver  to  collect  all  the  taxes 
and  assets  of  the  old  city  and  administer  them  for  the  benefit  of 
the  creditors.  By  still  a  third  act  the  same  territory  was  created 
a  Taxing  District  and  governmental  agencies  provided,  but  these 
agencies  were  denied  the  right  to  levy  taxes  for  the  benefit  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  district.  The  public  streets,  alleys,  parks, 
wharves,  fire  engines,  horses  and  the  like  were  all  declared  to  be 
exempt  from  the  old  city's  debt,  and  to  be  held  for  public  uses 
as  theretofore.  The  new  government  was  denied  the  right  to 
issue  bonds  or  scrip,  or  incur  any  debt  of  any  character  what- 
ever, and  the  city  was  declared  not  liable  in  an  action  for  dam- 
ages to  any  person  who  might  be  or  whose  property  might  be 
injured  by  reason  of  defective  streets  and  the  like,  and  lastly  the 
district  was  declared  not  liable  for  any  of  the  indebtedness  of 
the  old  city  of  Memphis. 

As  stated  above,  the  power  of  taxation  was  denied  to  the 
new  government.  How  then  could  the  desired  revenue  for 
governmental  purposes  be  imposed  and  collected  ?  Here  I 
will  quote  briefly  from  the  act  which  succinctly  answers  the 
questions  and  shows  the  scheme  of  the  new  municipal  govern- 
ment : 

"  That  the  necessary  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  govern- 
ment thus  established  shall  be  imposed  directly  by  the  general 
assembly  of  the  state  of  Tennessee  and  not  otherwise.  In  ad- 
ministering the  affairs  and  for  providing  the  means  for  local 
government  in  said  districts  the  following  agencies  and  govern- 


JAMES    H.    MALONE.  I  15 


ing  instrumentalities  are  hereby  established  :  First,  a  Board  of 
Fire  and  Police  Commissioners  to  be  selected  and  qualified  in 
the  manner  hereinafter  provided ;  second,  a  committee  on  ordi- 
nances or  local  laws,  to  be  known  as  the  Legislative  Council  of 
the  Taxing  District,  and  which  shall  consist  of  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  Fire  and  Police  Boards  and  the  supervisors  of  the 
Board  of  Public  Works  ;  third,  a  Board  of  Health,  to  consist  of 
the  chief  of  police,  a  health  officer  and  one  physician,  who  shall 
have  been  in  active  practice  for  a  period  of  five  years,  next  pre- 
ceding his  appointment,  who  shall  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  taxing 
district  and  for  five  years  an  inhabitant  of  the  county,  and  who 
shall  be  ex-officio  president  of  the  Board ;  fourth,  a  Board  of 
Public  Works,  to  consist  of  five  supervisors  of  Public  Works." 
The  three  members  of  the  Board  of  Fire  and  Police  Commis- 
sioners and  the  five  members  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works  are 
elected  for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  can  be  removed  by  the 
Legislative  Council  for  any  malfeasance  or  misfeasance  in  office. 
All  are  not  elected  at  once,  however,  as  there  is  a  biennial  elec- 
tion in  January  in  which  a  part  of  the  members  of  each  board 
is  elected.  Then  there  can  never  be  a  time  when  all  the  members 
will  be  new  or  raw.  The  long  term  of  four  years  and  the  elec- 
tion of  part  only  of  the  members  of  these  boards  at  any  one 
given  election  I  regard  as  highly  conducive  to  the  public  good. 

The  functions  and  practical  working  of  these  boards  and 
governmental  agencies  are  substantially  the  same  to-day  as 
originally  enacted  in  1879,  and  may  be  summarized  briefly  as 
follows : 

The  Board  of  Fire  and  Police  Commissioners  consists  of 
three  members,  and  elects  its  president,  who  was  ex-officio  presi- 
dent of  the  Taxing  District,  now  mayor  of  Memphis,  and  pre- 
sides over  the  meetings  of  the  Legislative  Council,  but  without 
power  of  veto,  he  voting  as  any  other  member.  This  board  has 
control  of  the  appointment  of  firemen,  policemen,  and,  in  short, 
controls  the  patronage  of  the  city  government.  What  is  called 
the  Board  of  Public  Works  consists  of  five  members,  with- 
out whose  concurrence  no  contract  can  be  entered  into.  The 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF    MEMPHIS,   TENN. 


Board  of  Fire  and  Police  Commissioners  and  the  Board  of  Public 
Works,  sitting  jointly,  compose  the  Legislative  Council  and 
enact  all  ordinances  of  the  city,  both  boards  being  chosen  from 
the  city  at  large.  It  was  also  enacted,  and  is  now  the  law 
(though  its  repeal  has  been  attempted),  that  if  any  member  of 
said  board,  or  any  member  of  said  commission,  shall  become 
interested  directly  or  indirectly,  nearly  or  remotely,  in  any  con- 
tract of  any  kind  made  on  behalf  of  the  city,  upon  conviction 
the  guilty  party  shall  suffer  imprisonment  in  the  state  penitentiary 
at  hard  labor  for  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  ten  years, 
and  be  forever  rendered  infamous  and  ineligible  for  any  office 
in  the  State. 

Litigation,  of  course,  poured  in  upon  the  new  officials  from 
State  and  federal  courts.  The  general  result,  however,  was  in 
favor  of  the  new  government,  and  those  who  may  be  curious  to 
study  the  details  of  these  decisions  can  find  them  by  consulting 
Leuhrman  vs.  Taxing  District,  2  Lea  (Tenn.),  425,  and  Merri- 
wether  vs.  Garrett,  102  U.  S.,  472. 

The  situation  demanded  heroic  treatment  and  such  it  re- 
ceived. The  plan  of  "  pay  as  you  go  "  was  adopted  and  has 
continued  to  this  day.  We  have  a  splendid  sewerage  system, 
more  streets  and  better  streets  and  more  money  on  hand  to 
build  new  streets  than  ever  before.  The  police  and  fire  depart- 
ments are  in  first-class  condition,  while  the  water  supply  is  un- 
exceled,  and  not  one  dollar  of  indebtedness  stands  against  the 
city  incurred  since  1879,  save  and  except  the  bonded  indebted- 
ness of  the  old  city,  for  by  an  agreement  between  the  creditors 
of  the  old  city  and  the  Taxing  District  Government,  sanctioned 
by  the  Legislature,  the  debt  of  the  old  corporation  was  com- 
promised at  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar  and  assumed  by  the  Taxing 
District,  the  interest  on  which  has  been  promptly  paid.  The 
bonds  are  considered  gilt-edged  securities,  and  are  quoted  in  the 
markets  far  above  par,  and  measures  are  now  on  foot  to  refund 
a  part  of  the  debt  at  a  low  rate  of  interest. 

Our  present  form  of  government  is  substantially  as  it  was 
originally  enacted,  with  at  least  one  important  exception,  namely, 


JAMES    H.    MALONE. 


a  limited  power  of  taxation  has  been  vested  by  the  Legislature 
in  the  Legislative  Council.  In  addition  the  name  of  the  city  of 
Memphis  has  been  restored,  and  the  chief  executive  is  now 
known  as  the  mayor,  instead  of  the  president  of  the  Taxing  Dis- 
trict. Upon  the  whole,  I  believe  I  am  warranted  in  saying  that 
the  people  are  reasonably  well  satisfied  with  their  present  form 
of  government,  and  I  know  of  no  serious  modification  contem- 
plated at  the  present  time. 

I  believe  it  is  the  opinion  of  all  reflecting  persons,  who  have 
seriously  considered  the  situation,  that  fundamental  changes  are 
necessary  in  the  organic  law  of  the  State  if  we  are  to  attain  a 
full  measure  of  benefit  from  municipal  government  in  Tennes- 
see, at  least  such  is  the  case  with  respect  to  our  municipality. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  Memphis  possibly  owes  its  very  exist- 
ence to  the  power  of  the  legislature  to  interfere  with  its  local 
affairs  and  the  exercise  of  that  power  in  1879  by  abolishing  its 
charter,  it  may  seem  paradoxical  to  say  that  it  is  desired  so  to 
modify  our  organic  law  that  it  will  be  impossible  for  the  legis- 
lature to  interfere  with  local  municipal  affairs.  We  have  suffered 
grievously  in  this  respect.  In  the  report  of  the  committee  on 
jurisprudence  and  law  reform,  made  to  the  Tennessee  State  Bar 
Association  in  July,  1895,  over  which  I  had  the  honor  to  pre- 
side as  president,  speaking  with  reference  to  this  matter,  it  was 
said : 

"  The  result  of  this  is  that  two-thirds  of  the  time  actually 
devoted  to  legislation  is  now  devoted  to  contests  between  differ- 
ent factions  in  our  cities,  towns  and  villages  advocating  or  op- 
posing charter  changes.  The  effect  of  this  is,  that  that  class  of 
reai  property  has  become  less  valuable,  and  it  is  being  abandoned 
as  business  investments.  Many  believe  that  without  an  amend- 
ment to  our  present  constitution  no  municipal  code  can  be 
adopted." 

The  next  important  change  desired  is  a  change  in  our  con- 
stitution, authorizing  municipalities  to  levy  a  tax  on  abutting 
property  to  pay  for  a  part,  at  least,  for  local  improvements  of 
streets,  sewers  and  the  like,  it  having  been  decided  by  the 


Il6  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION    OF   MEMPHIS,   TENN. 

Supreme  Court  that  such  taxation  or  assessment  is  forbidden 
by  the  constitution.     (See  Taylor  vs.  Chandler,  9  Heisk.,  349). 

Again,  we  have  in  Tennessee  the  ancient  County  Court 
system,  composed  of  magistrates  of  the  county,  nearly  all  of 
whom  reside  beyond  the  city  limits,  but  whose  power  of  taxa- 
tion includes  the  whole  city,  and  we  have  in  this  respect  too 
much  government. 

Earnest  efforts  have  been  made  and  are  now  making  to 
bring  about  these  desired  changes,  they  being  recommended  by 
the  State  Bar  Association,  mentioned  above.  I  very  much 
desired  to  have  the  pleasure  of  attending  your  meeting  in  Balti- 
more, and  had  fully  expected  to  be  present,  but  one  thing  ren- 
ders this  impossible.  The  party  to  which  I  belong  (Democratic) 
holds  its  State  convention  at  Nashville  on  the  days  of  your  meet- 
ing, namely,  May  6th  and  7th,  and  those  of  us  who  have  been 
working  for  these  reforms  deem  it  imperatively  necessary  to  be 
on  hand,  to  urge  the  party  to  insert  a  plank  in  its  platform  favor- 
able to  our  views,  with  the  hope  that  the  Republican  party,  which 
is  to  meet  in  convention  later  on,  will  pursue  the  same  course. 
We  find  it  difficult  to  interest  our  people  on  these  vital  questions. 
The  party  leaders  are  generally  absorbed  with  national  politics, 
or  pretend  so  to  be.  For  instance,  at  the  present  time,  we  can 
hear  of  nothing  except  the  money  question,  while  a  few  years 
ago  we  heard  of  nothing  except  the  tariff,  which  was  discussed 
morning,  noon  and  night,  in  the  press,  upon  the  stump  and  at 
every  cross-road. 

However  discouraging  our  past  experience  may  have  been, 
we  are  determined  to  push  the  matter  of  these  reforms  until 
success  finally  crowns  our  efforts. 


MUNICIPAL    REFORM    IN    GEORGIA.  I  \J 


MUNICIPAL  REFORM   IN  GEORGIA.* 


COL.  ARTHUR  DASHER,  MACON,  GA. 


The  sentiment  in  favor  of  better  government  is  deep  and 
abiding  in  a  large  majority  of  the  citizens  of  Georgia,  but  its 
open  advocates  and  earnest  agitators  are  confined  almost  exclu- 
sively to  the  Protestant  Church  people.  It  is  probable  that  these 
would  hold  their  peace  but  for  their  religious  consciences  im- 
pelling them  to  protect  the  young  men  from  the  immoral  effects 
of  whisky,  gambling  and  the  long  train  of  vices  that  follow  these 
evils.  If  the  liquor  men  would  not  continuously  violate  the  law, 
especially  those  statutes  prohibiting  the  sale  on  Sunday,  the  sale 
to  drunken  men  and  to  minors,  and  if  through  their  power  over 
the  police  they  would  not  encourage  and  protect  the  gambler, 
there  is  small  doubt  that  the  busy  men  of  Georgia  would  pursue 
the  even  tenor  of  their  way,  content  to  let  the  municipal  ship  be 
guided  and  manned  by  those  who  had  the  time  or  the  love  of 
the  vain  pomp  and  circumstance  of  holding  public  office. 

There  have  been  but  few  great  scandals  in  our  cities  grow- 
ing out  of  jobbery  and  dishonesty;  true,  several  such  schemes 
were  attempted,  but  through  the  vigilance  of  citizens  were  throt- 
tled before  much  harm  was  done.  This  may  largely  account  for 
the  fact  that  most  of  the  complaint  and  conflict  has  been  upon 
matters  touching  the  sale  of  liquor,  as  above  stated. 

Our  public  sentiment  tolerates,  without  approval,  many 
irregularities  of  small  magnitude.  There  are  those  who  do  not 
appear  to  think  that  morality,  which  is  "  the  science  of  human 

*  In  discussing  this  subject  I  do  not  refer,  except  one  time,  to  any 
particular  city,  but  collectively  to  the  ten  cities  of  Georgia.  I  mean  the 
white  people,  because  the  negro  has  but  little  concern  with  public  opinion, 
for  reasons  that  will  appear  later  on. — A.  D. 


Il8  MUNICIPAL   REFORM    IN   GEORGIA. 

duty,"  embraces  public  sentiment  as  well  as  private  conduct. 
Some  who  consider  themselves  upright  will  commit  petty  frauds 
in  elections,  laugh  at  and  twit  their  opponents  about  it  and  pass 
it  off  as  merely  a  clever  trick  ;  but  the  majority  no  longer  give  a 
sum  to  the  "  campaign  fund  and  look  the  other  way  lest  they  see 
how  it  is  applied."  Some  dishonest  measures  have  been  openly 
advocated  in  the  name  of  the  public  welfare,  and,  by  the  same 
token,  some  City  Councils  have  passed  measures  that,  in  private 
life,  would  almost  have  amounted  to  crimes.  O,  what  sanc- 
tity in  that  name,  "  The  Public !  "  How  many  little  private 
snaps  have  been  smuggled  through  in  the  name  of  "  the  dear 
people,"  who  seem  to  have  been  adopted  as  the  special  ward  of 
the  demagogue,  whose  most  plausible  argument  is  that  "  the 
end  justifies  the  means."  With  some  modification  it  might  be 
said  in  Georgia  that  "  the  pulpit  is  once  more  assuming  its  legit- 
imate prerogative  and  is  hurling  its  anathemas  against  high- 
handed corruption  in  municipal  affairs ;  the  deeds  of  darkness 
and  venality  are  condemned  in  the  house  of  the  faithful."  Good 
people  are  beginning  to  vote  as  they  pray,  and  are  being  waked 
up,  but  it  is  mainly  upon  the  subject  of  morals.  They  scarcely 
know  of  such  a  thing  as  municipal  patriotism.  Some  one  says, 
"  What  is  a  city — a  corporation  ?  "  Well,  I  am  afraid  that  that  is 
about  all  there  is  of  it  in  the  minds  of  many.  Such  a  soulless  entity 
can  inspire  no  love,  can  call  forth  no  loyalty.  We  subscribe  too 
quickly  to  the  spirit  of  Daniel  O'Connor's  aphorism  that  "  a  cor- 
poration has  neither  a  body  to  be  kicked  nor  a  soul  to  be 
damned."  On  the  other  hand,  we  should  have  more  patriotism 
for  our  city  than  for  our  State.  Municipal  reform,  according  to 
the  conception  of  most  men,  is  the  reduction  of  the  assessment 
or  of  the  tax  rate,  and  it  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  them 
that  there  is  just  as  much  need  in  the  city,  as  in  the  nation,  of 
cherishing  an  ideal  of  liberty,  or  purity  of  perfection.  The  na- 
tion, the  State,  the  county,  the  city  are  circles  that  concentrate 
in  a  rapid  ratio,  and  the  nearer  we  approach  the  family  hearth- 
stone the  more  sacred  should  be  the  sentiment. 

It   has   been  a  great  many  years   since  the  mayor   of  a 


COL.    ARTHUR    DASHER. 


city  was  quite  an  autocrat,  and,  like  Alexander  Selkirk,  could 
say  :  "  I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey  ;  my  right  there  is  none  to 
dispute."  For  all  purposes  of  "  practical  politics  "  he  had  com- 
plete control  of  the  police  force,  fire  department,  street  hands 
and  other  employees.  Through  the  police  he  had  power  to 
"  protect  "  such  barkeepers,  gamblers,  et  id  omne  genus,  as  would 
pay  him  sufficient  blackmail  ;  this  alone  always  insured  him  an 
enormous  campaign  fund  which  could  silence,  if  not  actually 
buy,  some  newspapers.  Take  this  illustration  :  In  a  city,  licens- 
ing one  hundred  bar-rooms,  he  could  collect  at  least  ten  dollars 
from  the  lowest  dive  among  them,  while  the  more  prosperous 
in  a  close  contest  give  a  much  higher  figure.  But  for  the 
sake  of  this  illustration  we  will  say  that  they  average  ten 
dollars  apiece,  making  a  total  of  $1000.  It  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  there  was  attached  to  every  bar-room  a  gambler  —  I 
mean  the  big  bird,  who  is  a  fowl  of  large  importance  in  municipal 
affairs.  (We  need  not  reckon  here  on  the  swarm  of  "  cappers  " 
and  "  decoy  ducks  "  used  by  him).  From  these  gamblers  at  ten 
dollars  per  head  another  $1000  could  be  raised.  By  the  fat-  fry- 
ing process  another  $1000  could  be  produced  from  the  fire  de- 
partment, city  employees  generally  and  candidates  for  various 
offices.  Thus  he  had  a  grand  total  of  $3000  to  start  with.  Add  to 
this  the  fact  that  the  three  or  four  hundred  people  so  contributing 
each  had  a  vote,  and  could  influence  not  only  his  family,  but 
also  outsiders.  Each  of  these  people  was  an  intense  partisan, 
who  considered  that  his  job  depended  more  on  his  political 
efficiency  than  upon  his  conscientious  performance  of  duty. 

There  may  have  been  mayors  who  held  office  from  four  to 
twelve  years,  and  the  only  wonder  is  that  they  did  not  keep  it  for  a 
lifetime  and  will  it  to  their  children.  Of  course,  there  is  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion  as  to  how  long  a  competent,  upright  man  should 
bear  rule,  but  I  submit  that  few  men  are  able  to  resist  the  multi- 
tude of  "  influences  "  constantly  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  So 
persistent  and  ingenious  are  these  influences  that  even  an  upright 
man  is  sometimes  corrupted.  Verily,  for  ways  that  are  dark  and 
tricks  that  are  shrewd  the  city  politician  is  peculiar. 


I2O  MUNICIPAL    REFORM    IN   GEORGIA. 

In  most  of  the  cities  this  tremendous  power  has  been  dimin- 
ished by  commissioners  and  a  distribution  of  power  in  other 
ways.  The  city  charters  have  been  also  changed  so  as  to  limit 
the  term  of  office,  but  in  some  instances  friends  of  the  mayor 
have  been  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  the  kaleidoscopic 
changes  made  to  keep  him  in  office  were  almost  bewildering. 

Formerly,  the  mayor  had  a  Board  of  Aldermen  which  he 
used  as  a  "  cat's  paw,"  who  received  all  the  blame  for  dirty  work, 
and  this  blame  being  divided  between  ten  or  twelve  men  did  no 
one  man  serious  damage,  especially  as  he  could  always  claim 
that  he  opposed  it.  Thus  one  readily  sees  why  a  dishonest 
mayor  desires  to  shirk  this  responsibility  and  does  not  desire  the 
power  to  vote.  To  cure  this  evil  some  mayors  have  been  given 
this  veto  power,  which  I  think  is  right  and  proper,  even  though 
the  Council  was  composed  entirely  of  honest  men.  If  a  measure 
cannot  be  shown  to  be  right  with  sufficient  clearness  to  convince 
two-thirds  or  three-quarters  of  Council,  especially  after  time  for 
reason  has  elapsed,  and  the  mayor  has  given  his  reasons  for  veto- 
ing, then  there  is  grave  doubt  about  the  wisdom  of  such  a  meas- 
ure. The  mayor  should  not  only  have  the  right  to  veto  the 
measure  as  a  whole,  but  should  also  have  the  right  to  veto  such 
part  or  parts  as  he  considers  obnoxious. 

In  our  democratic  form  of  civics,  government  for  the  peo- 
ple by  the  people  can  seldom  be  attained  where  the  power 
is  concentrated.  The  tendency  of  human  nature  is  to  abuse 
power,  and  the  "  insolence  of  office  "  has  become  proverbial ; 
therefore,  it  is  highly  important  that  the  legislative  and  execu- 
tive functions  of  municipal  government  should  be  separate. 
Our  State  government  is  a  success,  because  the  legislative,  ex- 
ecutive and  judicial  functions  are  independent.  It  is  easier  for 
a  "  ring  "  or  a  corporation  to  corrupt  one  man  than  several,  and 
it  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  among  thoughtful  men  that  the 
larger  the  legislative  bodies,  proportionate  to  population,  the 
less  corrupt  will  they  be.  History  and  statistics  seem  almost  to 
demonstrate  the  accuracy  of  this  opinion. 

Until  recent  years  our  City  Councils  were  composed  of  one 


COL.   ARTHUR   DASHER.  121 

or  two  good  men  (as  a  blind),  and  the  balance  would  be  bar- 
keepers, people  interested  in  liquor,  or  men  under  their  control. 
My  information  is  now  there  is,  perhaps,  not  a  single  barkeeper 
member  of  any  Council  or  Board  of  Aldermen  in  the  State 
of  Georgia,  but  this  does  not  prove  that  he  did  not  elect  those 
now  in  office. 

Material  advancement  has  been  made  in  the  sympathy  of 
the  press.  There  are  but  few  papers  that  will  now  openly  advo- 
cate ring  candidates  and  methods.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
neither  will  the  majority  of  them  champion  the  efforts  to  bring 
about  "  good  government ;  "  but  this  can  readily  be  explained 
by  the  fact  that  people  have  been  skeptical  of  the  success 
of  all  reform  movements  until  they  succeeded.  Newspapers  are 
corporations  organized  to  make  money — honestly,  if  they  can — 
and  it  is  only  when  some  lion-hearted  editor  throws  down  the 
gauntlet  in  favor  of  good  government  that  much  progress  is 
made. 

However  great  the  improvement  along  this  line,  we  cannot 
close  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  there  yet  remains  some  few 
papers  who  cast  their  influence  against  reform  and  reformers. 
Some  are  paid  for  active  work,  some  are  paid  for  silence,  while 
others  are  indirectly  owned  by  the  ring.  These  degrade  public 
sentiment  by  insincere  criticism  and  villification  of  opponents. 
No  self-respecting  man  is  willing  to  be  published  as  a  scoundrel, 
to  have  his  motions  impugned,  or  to  be  misquoted ;  and  rather 
than  mortify  his  family,  and  have  his  name  thus  dragged  through 
the  mire,  he  refuses  to  be  a  candidate  or  even  to  be  a  prominent 
worker.  So  generally  have  our  best  business  men  refused  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  politics,  that  the  term  "  politician  "  is. 
to  say  the  least,  a  very  doubtful  compliment.  This  state  of 
affairs  left  the  field  open  to  men  without  reputations  to  lose,  or 
to  those  willing  to  trade  what  little  reputation  they  had  for 
money  or  for  notoriety.  Those  whose  lack  of  ability  and  char- 
acter left  no  hope  of  success  in  the  business  world ;  and  men 
with  but  meagre  attainments  who,  as  one  of  my  college  pro- 
fessors was  fond  of  saying,  "  would  never  impede  navigation  by 


122  MUNICIPAL    REFORM    IN   GEORGIA. 

setting  the  rivers  on  fire."  This  class  saw  that  by  wearing  the 
collar  of  the  political  bosses  they  could  obtain  office  and  notori- 
ety, which  they  considered  quite  a  good  substitute  for  fame. 
By  this  system  of  evolution  we  have  an  abundant  crop  of  "  pol- 
iticians " — a  thick-skinned,  slimy,  stealthy  creature,  that  in  all 
probability  is  the  "  missing  link."  It  is  positively  painful  to 
note  the  perplexity  of  our  young  men  as  they  realize  the  facts 
as  they  exist.  In  schools  and  churches  they  are  taught  that 
"  truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again,"  etc.,  and  that  "  religion 
is  profitable  in  the  life  that  now  is  and  also  in  the  life  to 
come,"  but  in  "  practical  politics  "  they  have  seen  the  problem 
worked  out  this  way,  viz. :  A  foreigner  (perhaps  a  criminal) 
leaves  his  native  land,  comes  to  this  country,  and,  by  endear- 
ing himself  to  some  political  boss,  is  made  a  policeman ; 
by  levying  blackmail  (for  "  protection  ")  on  the  law-breaking 
barkeepers,  crooks  and  gamblers  of  his  beat,  in  a  few  years 
he  accumulates  enough  to  open  a  bar-room.  In  due  course 
of  time  he  ascends  (?)  from  ward  heeler  to  ward  boss,  and 
by  contributing  enough  to  "  the  machine "  he  is  elected 
councilman — think  of  it,  ye  gods,  a  "  city  father  !  "  From  that 
day  he  is  published  as  "  Honorable  "  Mr.  So-and-So,  one  of  our 
most  prominent,  public-spirited  and  patriotic  citizens,  and  his 
vicious  bull  dog  terrier  cannot  have  a  fight  in  a  back  alley 
but  what  an  enterprising  reporter  writes  it  up  in  a  flatter- 
ing way.  He  may  sell  or  he  may  run  his  bar-room  in  another 
man's  name;  he  may  retire  from  office  and  become  a  secret 
wire  puller ;  but  the  reporter  will  not  let  him  become  lost  to 
sight  and  memory  dear— a  rather  odd  illustration  of  how  the 
"  scent  of  the  roses  will  cling  around  him  still."  Thus  a  young 
man  with  a  laudable  ambition  for  public  life  soon  believes  that 
he  must  serve  the  ring  or  remain  in  private  life,  and  to  join  the 
church  in  earnest  is  tantamount  to  committing  political  suicide. 

The  majority  of  people  like  for  others  to  do  their  thinking, 
but  our  people  are  beginning  to  ask  the  question  why  is 
nearly  every  barkeeper  or  gambler  a  working  politician.  "  Is 
he  more  patriotic,  more  philanthropic?  Does  he  love  the 


COL.   ARTHUR    DASHER.  123 

welfare  of  his  fellow-man?  and  is  he  more  jealous  of  the 
peace,  good  order  and  dignity  of  the  State  ?  Does  he  assume 
the  functions  of  government  because  his  neighbors,  the  dry 
goods  and  hardware  merchants,  are  lacking  in  ability,  character 
and  patriotism  ?  "  Nay,  verily,  it  is  because  they  are  not  lacking 
that  he  objects  to  them.  Our  people  are  beginning  to  realize 
that  careless  citizens  choose  corrupt  officials,  and  that  the  crim- 
inal indifference  of  decent  men  is  the  chief  cause  of  that  wide- 
spread municipal  corruption  which  is  our  national  disgrace. 
The  business  man  who,  through  indifference,  practically  hands 
his  franchise  over  to  a  "  ring,"  and  thereby  abrogates  his  sov- 
ereignty as  a  self-governing  citizen,  realizes  too  late  that  he 
has  sold  his  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage.  Some  one  writes 
that  one  of  Solon's  regulations  proclaimed  a  man  dishonored 
and  disfranchised  who,  in  a  civil  dispute,  stood  aloof  and  took 
no  part  on  either  side ;  and  that  with  the  Greeks,  the  word 
idiote* — that  is,  idiot — meant  a  man  who  cared  nothing  for  the 
public  interests.  Daniel  Webster  said  that  only  religion,  morals 
and  knowledge  can  make  men  respectable  and  happy  under  any 
form  of  government.  A  comparison  of  the  religion,  morals  and 
knowledge  of  all  the  races  and  nations,  from  the  African  canni- 
bal up  through  the  ascending  scale  to  this  enlightened  Christian 
nation,  brings  out  the  truth  of  Mr.  Webster's  statement  with 
convincing  force. 

Registration  as  a  prerequisite  to  voting  has  recently  been 
adopted  in  most  of  our  cities,  but  it  is  merely  one  step  in  the 
right  direction  and  does  not  go  far  enough.  The  tricky  poli- 
tician has  learned  how  to  avoid  it,  though  he  does  so  at  the  ex- 
pense of  both  time  and  money.  In  one  of  our  cities  there  were 
about  three  hundred  negro  laborers,  who  had  been  imported 
from  an  adjoining  State  to  do  some  large  contract  work.  None 
of  them  were  qualified  to  register  or  vote  in  Georgia,  but, 
nevertheless,  they,  with  scores  of  local  negroes  who  were 
not  qualified,  would  be  carried  to  the  registration  booth  by  the 
heelers  of  the  liquor  men,  who  instructed  them  what  they 
should  swear  to.  Fully  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  them  received 


124  MUNICIPAL    REFORM    IN   GEORGIA. 

their  certificates,  the  other  five  per  cent,  not  being  shrewd  enough 
to  swear  just  right  and  to  evade  the  cross  questioning.  They 
then  sold  their  certificates  to  a  certain  barkeeper  for  one  dollar 
and  a  drink  of  mean  liquor.  You  may  readily  understand  the 
ease  with  which  a  certificate  can  be  handed  to  another  negro  on 
election  day,  who  is  told  his  name  (as  shown  on  the  certificate), 
and  placed  in  a  "  block  of  five,"  under  the  leadership  of  a  trusted 
heeler,  and  the  vote  cast  for  the  ring  candidate.  It  is  difficult 
to  detect  and  prove  this  trick,  for  it  is  almost  impossible  to  dis- 
tinguish between  strange  negroes.  They  look  so  much  alike 
that  men  raised  in  the  South  frequently  hesitate  and  refuse  on 
the  witness  stand  to  point  out  any  particular  one  as  being  the 
one  seen  on  a  former  occasion. 

Very  few  negroes  ever  vote  from  motives  of  sentiment  or 
principle ;  nothing  but  a  tangible  remuneration  ever  moves  them 
either  in  national,  State  or  municipal  elections.  They  are  pa- 
triotic for  revenue  only.  The  negro  vote  is  a  bought  vote,  and 
it  is  folly  to  reckon  on  any  other  way  to  control  it ;  true,  his 
body  is  no  longer  for  sale,  but  his  franchise  has  never  ceased  to 
be  a  chattel.  Many  great  men  consider  the  enfranchisement  of 
the  negro  as  the  most  stupendous  mistake  of  our  government. 
Ignorant  slaves,  without  conception  of  society  or  government, 
were  given  their  freedom  and  the  ballot  at  the  same  time,  and  it 
was  but  natural  that  they  should  use  their  ballot  blindly.  This 
brought  on  that  horrible  civic  nightmare,  known  as  "  carpet  bag 
rule,"  which  was  almost  as  disastrous  as  the  war.  To  overthrow 
this  rule  the  white  people  banded  together,  and  where  fair  means 
failed  they  tricked  the  negro  or  openly  bribed  him.  Under 
that  sophistry,  that  "the  end  justifies  the  means,"  they  com- 
mitted acts  that  before  the  war  would  have  disgraced  and  ban- 
ished them  from  their  homes.  This  lowered  public  sentiment 
to  the  point  where  it  would  tolerate  fraud  and  trickery,  and  it  is 
small  wonder  that  gradually  our  best  statesmen  were  supplanted 
by  the  creeping  in  of  rascals,  tools — in  short,  the  "  politician." 
From  tricking  the  negro  and  carpet-bagger  they  began  tricking 
each  other,  until,  as  a  natural  consequence,  disreputable  methods 


COL.   ARTHUR    DASHER.  1 25 

begot  disreputable  candidates,  who,  after  getting  into  office, 
there  sought  to  entrench  themselves  by  forming  rings.  These 
rings,  by  the  law  of  affinity,  combined  the  liquor  element,  the 
ignorant  foreigner  and  the  negro,  and  managed  to  nullify  the 
vote  of  the  decent  element,  until  the  business  man  became  dis- 
gusted with  himself  for  wasting  the  time  it  took  to  cast  a  ballot. 

This  combination  controlled  the  majority  of  votes,  and  our 
star  of  hope  consists  in  an  educational  qualification,  or  some 
similar  law  to  the  Australian  Ballot  Law,  that  will  prevent'the 
bribing  of  the  negro ;  this  would  cut  off  the  mad  dog's  tail  just 
behind  the  ears  and  forever  dispose  of  him. 

Considering  the  fact  that  a  municipality  is  a  corporation, 
one  might  say  that  like  other  corporations  it  ought  to  be  gov- 
erned by  its  stockholders,  but  then  we  might  be  upon  dangerous 
ground  when  we  undertook  to  decide  who  were  the  stockholders. 
But  there  can  be  no  questioning  the  statement  that  the  officers 
and  employees  should  be  competent,  honest  men,  and  not,  as  is 
too  often  the  case,  broken-down  business  men,  who  have  proved 
failures  in  all  other  walks  of  life.  The  city  should  not  become 
an  eleemosynary  institution  for  those  not  competent  to  earn  a 
living. 

We  have  laws  against  bribery,  illegal  voting,  etc.,  but  no 
one  likes  to  become  a  prosecutor  when  it  would  be  charged  that 
he  was  moved  by  spite  or  disappointment.  I  have  never  known 
of  any  one  being  tried  for  committing  any  offense  against  the 
election  laws,  and  the  public  sentiment  seems  to  be  in  favor  of 
lulling  itself  to  sleep  and  letting  bygones  be  bygones,  so  long  as 
no  serious  damage  is  done.  We  need  more  stringent  elections, 
such  as  the  Corrupt  Practices  Act  of  England,  passed  by  the 
Gladstone  ministry  in  1883. 

Although  I  have  thus  stated  the  facts  candidly,  without  any 
attempt  to  palliate  or  to  conceal,  yet,  after  the  worst  is  said,  I 
believe  Georgia  to  be  less  afflicted  than  any  of  her  sisters.  She 
has,  perhaps,  the  greatest  percentage  of  old  stock  Americans,  of 
revolutionary  ancestry  and  patriotism,  to  be  found  in  any  State. 
True,  we  have  those  warts  on  the  body  politic,  known  as 


126  MUNICIPAL   REFORM    IN   GEORGIA. 

"  Rings ;"  true,  her  citizenship  is  prone  to  be  tolerant  and  indif- 
ferent, but  underlying  all,  as  a  granite  foundation,  we  have  a 
public  opinion  that  believes  in  morality,  religion  and  liberty. 
The  rings  dare  not  purposely  arouse  this  sentiment,  for  when 
aroused  it  stalks  abroad  with  leonine  force  and  fury.  At  such 
times  the  ringsters  and  heelers  scamper  away  like  the  jackals 
and  hyenas,  but  like  them,  when  the  lion's  roar  dies  in  the 
distance,  they  sneak  back  under  cover  of  darkness  and  trickery 
and  feed  upon  the  political  carcass  until  their  snarling  again  be- 
comes obnoxious.  They  never  try  to  steal  the  whole  carcass — 
only  a  bite  at  a  time,  for  the  liquor  men  are  satisfied  with  "  pro- 
tection," and  the  ring  is  content  with  office  and  petty  pilfering. 
Georgians  are  also  tolerant  because  they  are  busy  and  con- 
tented. Long  ago  they  beat  their  swords  into  plowshares  and 
their  spears  into  pruning  hooks,  and  with  a  heroism  born  of 
almost  divine  inspiration  they  adjusted  themselves  to  a  strange 
and  new  order  of  things,  and  under  the  pressure  of  a  high 
resolve  and  a  tremendous  energy  they  have  made  the  grand  old 
State  to  flourish  like  a  green  bay  tree.  From  the  mountains  to 
the  seaboard  one  seldom  gets  far  out  of  sight  and  hearing  of  the 
tall  chimney,  the  church  spire  and  the  school-bell.  Proudly  is  she 
working  out  her  own  salvation,  and  unless  municipal  politics 
shall  become  a  cancer  that  will  eat  into  her  vitals,  she  will  be- 
come to  this  nation  what  she  is  now  to  the  South — the  "  Empire 
State  " — the  promised  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  where 
wisdom,  justice  and  moderation  bring  the  greatest  good  to  the 
greatest  number. 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   SPRINGFIELD,    MASS. 


GEORGE   A.  DENISON,  ESQ. 


Whatever  is  said  in  the  following  paper  concerning  the  ex- 
cellent municipal  condition  of  Springfield  is  well  within  the  facts, 
and  in  every  instance  the  favorable  features  of  that  condition  are 
understated  rather  than  exaggerated. 

Springfield  became  a  town  in  1636  and  a  city  in  1852.  Its 
population,  according  to  the  State  census  of  1895,  was  in  that 
year  fifty-one  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-five ;  it  is  prob- 
ably more  than  fifty-two  thousand  now,  and  is  included  in  the 
city  proper  and  the  outlying  villages  of  Indian  Orchard  and 
Brightwood.  Springfield  covers  a  large  geographical  area,  is 
not  crowded  nor  is  it  likely  to  become  so,  and  it  has  no  slums. 
The  great  majority  of  its  people  are  well  housed,  only  a  small 
portion  living  in  inferior  tenements,  and  their  number  is  not  in- 
creasing. There  are  few  American  cities  where  so  large  a  pro- 
portion of  the  whole  number  of  people  own  their  homes  or  live 
in  detached  or  semi-detached  houses  with  plenty  of  light,  air  and 
yard  room.  There  is  very  little  poverty  of  the  extreme  type, 
an  unusually  small  criminal,  semi-criminal,  vagrant  or  idle  popu- 
lation, and  the  proportion  of  unskilled  laborers  among  the  work- 
ing people  is  considerably  below  the  average  for  the  State. 

The  industries  of  Springfield  are  of  a  kind  to  attract  and 
retain  a  desirable  class  of  artisans.  There  are  no  cotton  or 
woolen  mills  and  very  little  textile  manufacturing  of  any  kind, 
while  there  is  the  United  States  armory,  pistol  and  car  shops 
and  numerous  moderate-sized  manufactories,  all  of  which  em- 
ploy skillful  and  well-paid  men  and  women.  It  is  undoubtedly 
due  to  this  diversity  of  industries  that  the  working  people  of 
Springfield  have  suffered  so  comparatively  little  from  idleness 


128  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   SPRINGFIELD,   MASS. 

and  inability  to  obtain  at  least  partial  employment  during  the 
prevailing  depression  in  business.  The  attractiveness  of  Spring- 
field has  drawn  to  it  a  considerable  number  of  people  of  com- 
fortable possessions,  and  above  the  average  in  intelligence,  in- 
cluding a  good  many  managers  of  important  industries  in  near- 
by towns.  On  the  other  hand,  Springfield  has  only  a  few  very 
wealthy  inhabitants,  but  a  great  many  who  are  well-to-do  and 
fore-handed.  The  proportion  of  foreign  born  and  illiterates  is 
much  below  the  average  for  the  State. 

These  conditions  have  always  prevailed  in  Springfield,  and 
there  has  never  been  lacking  a  healthy  public  spirit  among  its 
people,  and  as  a  consequence  that  community,  as  town  and  city, 
has  always  been  well  governed  and  is  well  governed  to-day. 
There  is  no  record  of  serious  malfeasance  in  office,  corruption 
by  a  public  servant  or  criminal  extravagance  in  administering 
the  public  moneys  in  all  the  two  hundred  and  sixty  years  of 
Springfield's  corporate  history.  Minor  abuses  there  have  been, 
and  occasional  departures  from  the  pathway  of  strict  economy ; 
there  have  been  lapses  into  heedlessness  in  spending  the  tax- 
payers' money,  and  now  and  again  a  yielding  to  the  temptation 
to  go  faster  and  farther  in  the  line  of  public  improvements  than 
the  condition  of  the  public  purse  would  warrant ;  but  with  the 
harsher  types  of  municipal  evils  its  people  have  never  been  ob- 
liged to  deal.  Springfield  has  never  been  ruled  by  a  ring  or  ex- 
ploited by  a  crowd  of  boodlers,  nor  has  it  ever  been  the  spoil  of 
the  self-seeking  politician. 

When  departures  from  the  path  of  municipal  rectitude  have 
occurred  the  people  have  been  swift  to  rebuke  them,  and  to  turn 
their  careless  servants  out  of  office  off-hand.  Party  politics  do 
not  and  never  have  dominated  in  municipal  nominations  or  elec- 
tions in  Springfield.  Republicans  and  Democrats  hold  party 
conventions  each  year  and  nominate  complete  tickets  from  mayor 
down,  but  the  independent  voter  is  always  abroad  in  full  force 
at  the  municipal  election,  and  often  changes  the  Republican  ma- 
jority in  November  to  a  Democratic,  citizens'  or  fusion  majority 
a  month  later.  In  this  way  it  has  been  demonstrated  over  and 


GEORGE   A.    DENISON.  1 29 


over  again  that  local  issues  control  in  local  elections — the  last 
time  at  the  election  in  December.  The  party  managers  thor- 
oughly understand  the  situation,  and  it  is  due  to  most  of  them 
to  say  that  they  are  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  purpose  of 
the  people  to  secure  the  best  city  government  possible,  and  the 
attempt  is  rarely  made  to  elect  unfit  men  to  city  offices.  There 
is  as  much  partisan  antagonism  in  Springfield  as  in  most  cities, 
and  both  parties  try  their  best  to  win  in  the  municipal  campaign, 
but  experience  has  taught  the  managers  on  both  sides  that  the 
best  ticket  has  the  most  chances  of  election.  The  public  schools 
are  not  in  politics,  and  the  people  have  punished,  with  over- 
whelming defeat,  some  attempts  to  crowd  men  and  women  into 
the  school  board  as  representatives  of  factions  and  fads,  without 
much  regard  to  their  fitness  for  the  place.  It  is  a  very  common 
thing  for  members  of  the  school  board,  who  have  proved  their 
efficiency,  to  be  renominated  by  both  parties,  and  for  both  con- 
ventions to  unite  in  nominating  some  one  whose  qualifications 
for  service  on  that  board  are  acknowledged.  It  has  occasionally 
happened  also  that  aldermen  and  councilmen,  who  have  made 
good  records  in  the  service  of  the  city,  have  been  made  the  can- 
didates of  both  parties,  and  it  is  the  custom  to  unite  in  the  re- 
nomination  of  the  city  clerk  and  the  treasurer  each  year. 

It  follows  from  these  conditions  and  the  determination  of 
the  people  to  get  the  best  service,  that  Springfield  usually  has  a 
government  which  is  representative  of  a  little  better  than  the 
average  intelligence,  virtue  and  public  spirit  of  the  community. 
Some  years  the  government  will  sink  somewhat  below  this  level 
and  other  years  it  will  rise  above  it  in  quality,  but  it  is  always 
comparatively  easy  to  obtain  the  services  of  competent  men  and 
to  have  a  sufficient  number  of  such  in  both  branches  of  the  local 
legislature  to  control  and  give  character  to  the  entire  body,  and 
a  representative  citizen  can  always  be  found  for  the  mayoralty. 
The  mayoralty  of  Springfield  is  accounted  an  honor  which  the 
most  competent  regard  as  worth  striving  for.  So  far  public  sen- 
timent has  refused  to  be  content  with  a  city  government  of  lower 
grade  than  this,  and  there  are  no  alarming  signs  of  growing  in- 


I3O  MUNICIPAL  CONDITION   OF   SPRINGFIELD,    MASS. 

difference  among  the  people  to  the  sort  of  men  they  elect  to  con- 
duct public  affairs. 

It  is  believed  by  many  students  of  the  situation  that  Spring- 
field would  be  better  governed  were  its  present  charter  replaced 
by  a  more  modern  instrument,  and  this  change  is  likely  to  be 
made  before  many  years.  The  present  charter  is  the  original 
statute  of  1852,  under  which  the  city  was  incorporated,  modified 
by  various  enactments  of  the  State  and  local  legislatures  passed 
since  that  time.  The  consequence  is  that  the  fundamental  law 
of  Springfield  is  something  of  a  patchwork,  not  wholly  consist- 
ent in  all  its  parts,  and  is,  to  some  extent,  an  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  applying  strictly  business  methods  to  the  administration  of 
the  several  departments.  Under  it  it  is  impossible  to  avoid 
divided  responsibility  or  to  secure  permanency  of  policy  in  the 
administration  of  a  department,  or  to  hold  the  nominal  heads  of 
the  departments  to  as  strict  an  accountability  as  is  desirable.  In 
this  emergency  recourse  has  been  had  to  the  commission  sys- 
tem, and  several  departments  have  been  put  under  the  care  of 
boards,  appointed  under  the  State  law  by  the  mayor  and  con- 
firmed by  the  aldermen.  A  commission  administers  the  water 
supply  and  distributing  system,  which  the  city  owns,  another 
looks  after  the  fire  department,  a  third  sees  to  the  public  parks  and 
a  fourth  manages  the  sinking  fund.  The  matter  of  distributing 
the  licenses  to  sell  intoxicating  liquors,  granted  under  the  local 
option  law  of  the  State,  was  taken  from  the  aldermen  a  few  years 
ago  and  given  to  a  board  of  three  members,  with  the  result  that 
the  license  question,  which  was  formerly  a  mischievous  factor, 
has  ceased  to  have  any  bearing  on  the  choice  of  aldermanic  can- 
didates, and  has  been  taken  out  of  local  politics,  excepting  as 
relating  to  the  general  question  whether  or  not  licenses  shall  be 
granted.  Springfield  is  a  license  city,  a  majority  of  its  people 
having  decided  in  several  successive  years  that  the  evils  of  the 
liquor  traffic  can  be  reduced  to  lower  terms  by  this  method  of 
control  than  by  the  attempt  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  intoxicants 
within  the  corporate  limits. 

The  schools  are  in  charge  of  a  committee  elected  as  repre- 


GEORGE   A.    DENISON.  131 


senting  the  several  wards,  but  by  the  people  at  large,  and  this 
committee  is  chosen  with  almost  exclusive  reference  to  fitness 
for  the  task  imposed  upon  it.    The  executive  head  of  the  school 
system  is  an  unusually  capable  superintendent  who  is  heartily 
supported  both  by  the  committee  and  the  people,  and  the  con- 
sequence is  that  Springfield  has  most  excellent  schools,  all  of 
which  are  well  housed  and  well  equipped.     A  new  high  school- 
house  is  to  be  built  soon,  and  some  months  have  already  been' 
given  to  the  study  of  plans  and  site  by  the  public,  the  School 
Board,  the  city  government  and  a  special  commission  of  citizens 
appointed  for  that  purpose.     There  has  been  the  most  complete 
harmony  in  this  study  between  the  Council,  the  school;  commit- 
tee and  the  commission,  all  have  worked  together  in  order  that 
the  best  building  possible  for  the  purpose  shall  be  assured. 

The  streets  and  sewers  are  under  the  charge  of  a  superin- 
tendent, who  is  directly  responsible  to  the  city  legislature 
through  a  joint  committee  of  its  upper  and  lower  branches. 
The  superintendent  is  elected  annually  by  the  Council,  and  is 
usually  continued  in  office  from  year  to  year,  but  .the  committee 
which  directs  his  works  changes,  and  this  change  operates 
against  a  permanent  policy  and  somewhat  in  favor  of  extrava- 
gance in  the  management  of  this  department.  The  police  de- 
partment is  also  somewhat  loosely  organized,  in  that  there  is  no 
fixity  of  tenure  for  its  head  and  no  direct  method  of  disciplining 
the  policemen.  The  head  of  the  police  department  is  appointed 
annually  by  the  mayor,  and  may  be  removed  summarily  at  the 
expiration  of  the  municipal  year.  Unless  the  new  charter  comes 
in  the  immediate  future  the  commission  system  will  probably 
be  extended  so  as  to  include  the  departments  of  streets  and 
sewers  and  the  police.  ; 

Besides  the  water  supply  the  only  municipal  works  under- 
taken by  the  corporation  of  Springfield  are  street  watering  and 
the  gathering  of  house  offal.  The  city  contracts  with  private 
parties  to  water  the  streets  and  charges  the  cost  to  the  abuttors, 
but  it  owns  the  scavenging  carts  and  disposes  of  the  offal  on  the 
farm  connected  with  the  poorhouse — the  method  of  disposal  is 


132  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   SPRINGFIELD,    MASS. 

at  present  ploughing  it  into  the  ground.  It  has  been  proposed 
several  times  that  the  city  establish  a  lighting  plant  of  its  own, 
and  preliminary  action  toward  that  end  has  been  taken,  under 
the  method  prescribed  by  the  Massachusetts  statutes,  by  the 
aldermen  and  Council.  This  action  never  passed  the  prelimi- 
nary stages,  because  the  committees  of  the  aldermen  and  Coun- 
cil having  the  lighting  of  the  city  in  charge  have  been  able  to 
make  very  favorable  contracts  with  the  local  electric  lighting 
company.  Under  the  contract  now  in  force  the  city  furnishes 
all  lamps,  poles  and  mast-arms  used  in  electric  lighting,  while 
the  company  supplies  the  wires  and  the  carbons,  cares  for  the 
lamps,  and  keeps  five  hundred  and  fifty-seven  arc  lamps,  of  full 
power,  burning  from  dawn  to  daylight,  every  night  in  the  year, 
for  seventy-five  dollars  per  lamp  per  year,  or  a  little  less  than 
two  and  three-hundredths  cents  per  lamp  per  hour.  The  total 
cost  of  street  lighting  in  Springfield  for  the  year  1895,  including 
electric,  gas  and  oil  lamps,  was  $46,451,  and  the  city  is  well 
lighted  at  this  moderate  outlay. 

There  is  but  one  street  railway  company  in  Springfield, 
which  enjoys  the  customary  monopoly  of  the  streets  under  the 
familiar  type  of  franchise.  So  far  the  requirements  of  this  fran- 
chise in  regard  to  the  care  of  the  streets  used  by  the  railway, 
including  the  removal  of  snow  in  winter,  have  been  fairly  well 
observed  by  the  company,  which  is  held  closely  to  its  agreements 
and  the  demands  of  the  city  government  by  the  committees 
having  the  streets  in  charge.  It  has  also  been  the  policy  of  the 
city  government  to  compel  the  telephone  company  to  put  its 
wires  under  ground  in  the  business  portions  of  the  city,  and  to 
remove  all  poles  from  the  principal  streets,  and  this  is  being 
done  as  rapidly  as  practicable. 

On  its  parks  Springfield  expended  #25,000  last  year,  and 
this  amount  will  be  increased  somewhat  this  year.  The  city 
owns  twenty-two  of  these  breathing  places  and  pleasure  grounds, 
varying  in  size  from  a  few  rods  to  Forest  Park,  which  includes 
four  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres,  and  will  soon  be  enlarged  to 
about  five  hundred  acres.  Much  of  this  park  area  has  been  pur- 


GEORGE   A.    DENISON.  133 


chased,  but  more  has  come  by  gift.  Forest  Park,  than  which 
there  are  few  more  beautiful  pleasure  grounds  in  the  United 
States,  is  almost  entirely  the  gift  of  generous  citizens.  Many  of 
the  school-houses  have  considerable  open  areas  around  them, 
and  there  are  more  parks  planned  for,  the  policy  being  to  take 
advantage  of  opportunities  to  obtain  land  for  such  purposes  be- 
fore the  growth  of  the  city  raises  real  estate  values  to  a  compar- 
atively prohibitive  level. 

It  should  be  said  in  passing  that  so  far  the  commission  sys- 
tem has  worked  well  in  Springfield.  Under  the  Massachusetts 
statutes  such  boards  are  given  large  powers  and  are  made  prac- 
tically permanent,  so  that  given  competent  and  faithful  commis- 
sioners, the  municipal  departments  under  their  charge  can  be 
administered  according  to  the  best  methods.  So  far  our  mayors 
have  selected  wisely  in  their  choice  of  men  to  fill  these  places, 
and  suitable  persons  have  been  found  to  do  the  work  of  the 
people  in  them  substantially  without  compensation.  The  chair- 
man of  the  water  board,  who  is  the  executive  officer  of  that 
department,  receives  $1200  annually,  and  the  secretary  of  the 
license  board  is  paid  a  small  salary — the  other  commissioners 
are  not  paid.  Aldermen  and  councilmen  are  not  paid ;  the 
mayor  receives  $2000,  the  city  clerk  and  the  treasurer  the  same 
amount,  and  the  tax  collector  $2200.  The  total  salary  list  of 
the  city,  exclusive  of  the  schools,  is,  in  round  numbers,  $17,000. 
The  present  tax  collector  has  served  continuously  since  and  in- 
cluding 1859,  one  city  clerk  and  treasurer  was  in  office  twenty- 
five  years,  and  the  present  incumbents  have  held  these  offices  a 
decade  and  are  likely  to  be  re-elected  indefinitely. 

Here  are  some  details  to  supplement  this  outline  sketch  of 
the  municipal  condition  of  Springfield.  The  assessed  valuation- 
of  taxable  property  for  the  year  1895  was  $59,033,141,  which  is 
estimated  to  be  seventy  per  cent,  or  more  of  the  market  value 
of  the  assessed  property,  and  is  a  little  above  the  valuation  of 
recent  years.  This  valuation  would  be  nearer  the  average  per- 
centage of  assessed  to  market  values  in  years  past  if  applied  the 
present  year,  because  there  has  been  an  increase  in  the  taxable 


134  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   SPRINGFIELD,    MASS. 

property  in  Springfield  since  this  valuation  was  made.  Upon 
the  above  valuation  the  tax  rate  last  year  was  twelve  dollars  and 
twenty  cents  on  a  $1000,  and  the  total  assessment  committed  for 
collection  was  $787,829.  Included  in  this  gross  amount  were 
Springfield's  share  of  the  State  and  county  taxes  and  a  special 
State  tax  for  the  building  of  a  militia  armory;  deducting  these 
items  leaves  the  city  tax  proper  $643,200.  The  total  income  of 
the  city  from  all  sources  was  $1,886,281.  In  this  amount  are  in- 
cluded the  proceeds  of  a  temporary  loan  of  $400,000,  a  school- 
house  loan  of  $35,000,  the  receipts  from  the  water  department, 
$212,000;  from  liquor  licenses,  $65,000,  and  other  incidentals. 
The  value  of  the  land  in  charge  of  the  park  commissioners  is 
estimated  at  $583,229,  and  of  the  water  works  at  $1,883,000,  all 
other  city  property  is  estimated  at  $2,561,848. 

The  debt  of  Springfield  is  $1,944,500,  of  which  amount, 
$1,625,000,  is  for  the  water  works.  Money  will  be  borrowed 
with  which  to  build  the  new  high  school-house,  but  with  this 
increase  the  debt  will  be  only  a  little  more  than  $2,000,000,  and 
will  remain  far  within  the  borrowing  limit  of  the  city,  which  is, 
under  the  statute,  two  and  a  half  per  cent  of  the  valuation,  ex- 
clusive of  the  water  bonds.  The  credit  of  Springfield  is  very 
high ;  its  temporary  loans  and  bonds  are  always  in  demand,  and 
were  placed  last  year  at  rates  which  netted  the  lenders  only  from 
three  and  one-eighth  to  three  and  one-half  per  cent.  The  as- 
sembly of  the  State  of  New  York  has  recently  passed  a  bill  per- 
mitting the  savings  banks  of  that  State  to  invest  in  the  securi- 
ties of  Springfield. 

These  were  some  of  the  principal  items  of  municipal  ex- 
pense last  year,  which  may  be  regarded  as  an  average  year 
because  there  were  no  extraordinary  outlays.  For  the  city 
library  $24,000  was  appropriated,  which  is  about  the  amount 
given  each  year  in  order  that  the  library,  which  is  an  excellent 
one,  may  be  free.  The  fire  department  cost  $84,000;  streets, 
bridges,  sewers  and  sidewalks  $159,000;  interest  $118,000,  the 
police  $50,000  and  the  schools  $199,000,  of  which  $163,000  was 
for  salaries.  The  pauper  department  cost  $44,000,  and  its  man- 


GEORGE   A.    DENISON.  135 


agement  is  now  undergoing  a  thorough  overhauling  by  the  City 
Council  in  order  that  certain  minor  abuses  may  be  checked  and 
abolished. 

In  forty-four  years  the  tax  rate  has  but  once  risen  as  high 
as  eighteen  dollars  per  $1000,  and  that  was  in  1866;  since  that 
time  it  has  once  been  seventeen  dollars,  but  in  nineteen  of  the 
last  thirty  years  it  has  been  thirteen  dollars  or  under,  and  in 
twenty-three  of  these  thirty  years  it  has  not  risen  above  fourteen 
dollars.  In  1 890  the  rate  was  twelve  dollars  and  forty  cents ; 
in  1891  it  was  twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents ;  in  1892,  thirteen 
dollars;  in  1893,  twelve  dollars  and  eighty  cents;  in  1894, 
twelve  dollars,  and  in  1895,  twelve  dollars  and  twenty  cents. 
The  rate  for  1896  may  slightly  exceed  thirteen  dollars. 

As  well  governed  as  Springfield  has  been  and  is,  there  are 
many  of  its  citizens  who  are  convinced  that  its  affairs  can  be 
administered  better,  and  there  is  little  doubt  but  that  they  can 
be.  If  its  people  know  nothing  of  thieving  rings  and  have 
never  seen  their  interests  made  the  sport  of  self-seeking  poli- 
ticians, they  have  paid  a  good  deal  more  money  in  taxes  to 
secure  the  municipal  advantages  they  enjoy  than  they  ought  to 
have  paid.  There  have  been  blunders  on  the  part  of  public 
servants  and  looseness  of  management,  which  has  cost  heavily, 
and  there  have  been  conflicts  of  policy  in  the  administration  of 
some  of  the  departments  between  successive  governments, 
which  have  resulted  in  wasteful  attempts  at  public  improve- 
ments. Springfield  has  good  and  fairly  well-kept  streets,  for 
instance,  but  neither  as  good  nor  as  well  kept  as  they  ought  to 
be  for  the  money  they  have  cost.  On  the  other  hand,  the  city 
has  paid  but  little,  if  any,  more  for  its  buildings  than  private 
parties  would  have  paid,  and  it  is  a  safe  general  statement  that 
in  no  city  in  the  country  have  the  taxpayers  received  more  for 
their  money  than  in  this  old  Massachusetts  community.  Prob- 
ably in  no  other  city  are  the  men  who  spend  the  public  money 
more  closely  watched  than  they  are  in  Springfield. 

The  local  newspapers  are  vigilant  and  are  unanimously  on 
the  side  of  a  wise  economy,  and  many  of  the  large  taxpayers 


136  MUNICIPAL  CONDITION   OF   SPRINGFIELD,   MASS. 

exert  themselves  to  elect  representatives  of  their  own  class  to 
both  branches  of  the  City  Council.  In  the  present  board  of 
aldermen,  eight  in  number,  there  are,  at  least,  five  whose  prop- 
erty interests  put  them  on  the  side  of  conservatism  in  expendi- 
tures, and  there  is  a  sufficient  representation  of  the  same  class 
in  the  lower  board.  Probably  the  greatest  safeguard  against 
extravagance  in  the  expenditure  of  public  moneys  in  Springfield 
is  the  fact  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  voters  are  taxpayers 
on  real  estate  and  so  feel  this  extravagance  in  their  own  pockets, 
and  the  strongest  assurance  of  continued  good  government  in 
that  city  is  the  character  and  public  spirit  of  its  citizens. 

The  only  problems  which  face  the  people  of  Springfield  are 
problems  of  administration.  Their  city  is  growing  in  a  moder- 
ate and  healthy  way,  and  is,  year  by  year,  taking  on  more  of  a 
metropolitan  aspect,  and  that  wisdom  which  prepares  for  the 
future  while  supplying  present  needs  is  more  and  more  needed 
in  the  conduct  of  its  affairs.  That  it  will  be  forthcoming  as  the 
years  go  by,  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  no  one  who  knows  the 
people  of  Springfield  can  seriously  doubt. 

Deducting  the  sinking  funds  the  water  debt  of  Springfield 
is,  or  was,  on  July  ist,  last,  $i, 509,000,  and  this  debt  is  being 
reduced  at  the  rate  of  $50,000  a  year.  Deducting  from  the  total 
debt  of  Springfield  the  water  debt  and  sinking  funds,  as  the  stat- 
ute provides  shall  be  done  in  estimating  the  legal  borrowing 
limit  of  a  city,  and  the  remainder  is  the  smallest  indebtedness  of 
any  city  in  the  State.  The  percentage  of  net  indebtedness — so 
estimated — to  valuation  in  Springfield  is  forty-seven  one-hun- 
dredths,  and  the  amount  of  debt  to  each  thousand  of  the  popu- 
lation is  about  five  dollars  and  forty  cents.  This  is  the  lowest 
amount  of  debt  per  thousand  people  of  any  city  in  Massachu- 
setts. No  other  city  in  Massachusetts  has  so  low  a  tax  rate. 
The  average  rate  in  Springfield  for  the  past  ten  years  has  been 
twelve  dollars  and  eighty-seven  cents,  which  is  three  dollars  and 
twenty-nine  cents  less  than  the  average  rate  for  all  the  cities  in 
Massachusetts  for  1895.  For  these  figures  I  am  indebted  to  our 
city  treasurer. 


MUNICIPAL    CONDITION    OF   ALBANY.  137 


MUNICIPAL  CONDITION  OF  ALBANY,  N.  Y. 


HON.  JOHN  BOYD  THACHER, 
MAYOR  OF  ALBANY. 


Albany  is  the  second  oldest  incorporated  municipality  in 
what  is  now  the  United  States  of  America.  On  the  22d  of 
July,  in  the  year  1686,  Governor  Thomas  Dongan,  acting  for 
the  second  King  James,  gave  Albany  her  charter  confirming  her 
ancient  rights,  liberties  and  free  customs.  Three  months  before 
the  city  of  New  York  had  received  a  similar  charter  from  the 
same  hand.  When  the  province  was  disturbed  on  the  accession 
of  William  and  Mary,  acting  governor  Jacob  Leisler,  sometimes 
called  the  usurper,  demanded  back  the  charters  from  the  two 
cities.  New  York  yielded  up  hers,  but  to  this  day  we,  of 
Albany,  delight  to  remember  that  our  first  mayor,  Peter  Schuy- 
ler,  defied  Leisler  and  clung  to  the  charter.  We  operated  under 
that  instrument  for  nearly  two  centuries,  and  while  we  have 
been  stripped  of  much  of  our  powers  and  denied  many  of  our 
immunities  by  hostile  legislation,  we  have  never  suffered  the 
loss  of  a  single  power  without  contention,  nor  been  divested  of 
the  smallest  right  without  protest. 

The  Dongan  charter,  although  altered  and  amended  in  many 
features,  remained  in  force  until  the  year  1870,  a  period  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty-four  years.  Under  that  charter  the  title  of 
the  municipality  was  the  "  mayor,  aldermen  and  commonalty  of 
the  city  of  Albany."  The  mayor  was  the  executive  officer  of 
the  city  government.  He  was  appointed  by  the  lieutenant- 
governor  of  the  province.  He  was  the  clerk  of  the  market, 
with  power  to  make,  "  assize  or  assay  of  bread,  wine,  beer  and 
wood  and  other  things."  He  was  the  coroner  not  only  for  the 
city  of  Albany,  but  within  the  limits  of  the  county  of  Albany, 


138  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   ALBANY. 

He  granted  licenses  and  collected  the  fee  for  the  same.  There 
were  two  aldermen  and  two  assistants  from  each  ward,  and  these 
constituted,  with  the  mayor  and  recorder,  the  Common  Council. 
They  were  yearly  chosen  on  the  Feast  Day  of  St.  Michael  the 
Archangel.  They  were  empowered  "  to  make  laws,  orders,  ordi- 
nances and  constitutions,"  and  to  "  add,  alter,  diminish  and  re- 
form them."  The  mayor,  aldermen  (but  not  the  assistants)  and 
recorder  were  justices  of  the  peace,  and  constituted  the  City 
Court  and  Court  of  Pleas,  and  were  entitled  to  sit  in  any  Court  of 
Sessions  or  in  any  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  which  might  be 
held.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  aldermen,  who  were  assist- 
ants, sat  only  in  the  Common  Council  when  the  latter  was  exer- 
cising legislative  functions.  They  had  no  part  in  the  judicial 
functions  performed  by  the  other  aldermen. 

There  was  one  feature  in  this  first  charter  which  will  seem 
curious  to  us  to-day.  It  was  provided  that  if  any  person  who  was 
appointed,  nominated  or  elected  to  any  office  should  refuse  to 
accept  the  same  he  should  have  a  fine  assessed  upon  him,  rang- 
ing from  a  twenty  pounds  fine  for  one  refusing  to  act  as  mayor 
to  a  fine  of  five  pounds  for  one  declining  to  be  an  assistant  or 
sheriff.  We  enjoyed  some  extraordinary  rights,  and  one  im- 
portant privilege  was  that  even  the  governor  and  his  council 
could  not  grant  a  license  to  trade  with  Indians  or  hunt  in  his 
majesty's  dominions  without  the  consent  of  the  mayor,  aldermen 
and  commonalty  of  the  city  of  Albany.  Such  were  some  of  the 
principal  features  of  the  Dongan  charter. 

In  1870  the  legislature  granted  us  a  new  charter,  and  the 
municipality  became  known  as  the  "  City  of  Albany."  The 
municipality  of  New  York  still  keeps  its  old  title,  in  which  the 
word  "  commonalty  "  is  a  reminder  of  the  charter  first  obtained 
from  Governor  Dongan.  In  1883  we  obtained  our  third  and 
present  charter.  It  has  been  amended  in  many  important  pro- 
visions, but  all  legislation  has  been  in  the  direction  of  illegiti- 
mate and  irresponsible  municipal  government.  Executive  power 
has  been  taken  from  the  mayor  and  lodged  in  several  boards 
and  commissions,  and  legislative  powers  have  been  conferred 


HON.    JOHN    BOYD   THACHER.  139 

upon  them  and  taken  from  the  Common  Council.  These  boards 
control  the  affairs,  respectively,  of  the  Departments  of  Police, 
Fire,  Health,  Water,  Public  Instruction  and  Parks.  The  mayor 
is  ex-officio  member  and  president  of  the  first  three  boards.  He 
appoints  commissioners  as  their  individual  terms  expire,  subject 
to  the  action  of  the  Common  Council. 

The  provision  relative  to  confirmation  was  introduced  into 
the  charter  by  legislative  action  in  1885  while  I  was  serving  as 
a  member  of  the  State  Senate,  and  it  became  operative  when  I 
began  my  first  term  as  mayor  in  the  spring  of  1886.  So  far  as 
I  know  it  is  unique  in  its  conditions.  It  permits  the  mayor  to 
appoint  officials,  members  of  boards  and  commissions,  and  to 
send  their  names  to  the  Common  Council  for  confirmation ;  they 
41  must  be  considered  by  that  body  at  the  meeting  at  which  they 
are  presented,  and  unless  rejected  at  such  meeting,  or  at  the  next 
regular  meeting  thereafter,  by  a  majority  of  all  the  members 
elected  to  said  Common  Council,  they  shall  stand  confirmed." 
Instead  of  requiring  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elected  to 
confirm,  the  law  requires  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elected 
to  reject,  and  unless  rejected  within  two  regular  meetings,  in- 
cluding the  meeting  at  which  the  appointments  are  sent  in,  they 
stand  confirmed.  Thus  a  deadlock  in  the  Common  Council 
operates  to  confirm.  The  adjournment  of  two  meetings  without 
taking  action  is  equivalent  to  confirmation.  In  my  judgment 
the  power  of  confirmation  does  not  properly  come  within  the 
functions  of  a  Common  Council,  which  is  purely  a  legislative 
body.  Until  that  principle  is  recognized,  the  provision  in  the 
Albany  charter  may  be  regarded  as  a  somewhat  successful  de- 
vice to  relieve  the  executive  from  the  control  of  the  legislative 
branch  in  the  matter  of  appointments. 

Over  three  of  the  boards  the  mayor  practically  has  no  con- 
trol. The  Park  Board  and  the  Board  of  Public  Instruction,  as 
indeed  the  Police  Board,  can  pass  an  appropriation  item  in  the 
financial  budget  over  the  veto  of  the  mayor.  The  Park  Board 
draws  its  appropriation  from  the  city  treasury  at  the  beginning 
of  its  fiscal  year,  and  deposits  the  same  where  it  chooses  and 


I4O  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   ALBANY. 

spends  it  as  it  chooses.  The  Water  Board  is  a  law  unto  itself. 
It  levies  taxes  for  water  and  can  spend  money  as  it  elects.  The 
Health  Board  has  power  to  expend  money  for  reducing  garbage 
or  erecting  a  plant  for  that  purpose,  and  can  call  upon  the  city 
to  issue  bonds  for  same  without  going  to  the  Common  Council 
at  all.  The  city  is  ruled  by  commissions  and  non-partisan 
boards.  The  simplest  executive  function  is  sometimes  delayed, 
to  the  great  detriment  of  the  city,  until  a  board  can  find  it  con- 
venient to  meet  and  act.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  each  of  our  city 
boards  is  composed  of  our  best  citizens — honest,  capable  and 
intelligent.  No  money  is  stolen,  and  if  it  is  wasted  it  is  the 
fault  of  the  pernicious  system  of  performing  executive  functions 
through  the  cumbersome  and  antiquated  contrivance  of  a  com- 
mission. 

The  study  of  municipal  government  is  engrossing  the  at- 
tention of  students  and  thinkers.  It  is  constantly,  and  with  in- 
creased persistency,  forcing  its  attention  on  thoughtful  persons. 
The  form  of  the  national  government  seems  to  have  been  satis- 
factorily arranged,  except  as  regards  the  election  of  the  chief 
executive  and  the  members  of  the  upper  house.  The  form  of 
our  State  government  is  regarded  as  practically  fixed  and  estab- 
lished. It  is  now  time  for  statesmen  to  construct  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  city  a  form  which  will  be  adapted  to  new  conditions 
and  new  wants.  In  my  own  State  the  majority  of  our  people 
live  in  regularly-incorporated  cities.  Throughout  the  country 
the  ratio  of  the  urban  population  is  constantly  increasing.  A 
century  ago  there  were  only  six  cities  in  the  country  with  a 
population  of  eight  thousand  inhabitants  or  over.  To-day  the 
population  of  cities  cannot  be  less  than  twenty  millions.  A  hun- 
dred years  ago  the  urban  population  was  a  little  over  three  and 
one-third  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  To-day  it  is  over  thirty  per 
cent.  In  1860  there  were  only  one  hundred  and  forty-one  cities 
with  a  population  of  5,072,256.  In  1880  the  cities  had  increased 
in  number  to  two  hundred  and  eighty-six,  and  the  urban  popu- 
lation had  increased  to  11,318,547.  In  1890  there  were  four 
hundred  and  forty-three  incorporated  cities,  and  an  urban  popu- 


HON.   JOHN    BOYD   THACHER.  141 

lation  of  18,318,547.  For  the  twenty  years,  from  1860  to  1880, 
the  average  yearly  increase  of  the  urban  population  was  312,314. 
For  the  ten  years,  from  1880  to  1890,  the  average  yearly  in- 
crease was  696,583.  If  this  average  increase  has  been  main- 
tained for  the  last  six  years  we  have  to-day  more  than  twenty- 
two  million  souls  living  in  cities,  and  whose  safety  and  happi- 
ness directly  depend  on  good  municipal  government. 

The  trend  of  population  toward  cities  is  due,  in  my  judg- 
ment, to  the  following  causes  : 

1.  The  protection  to  the  inhabitants  and  to  their  property 
afforded  by  municipal  government. 

2.  The  inclination  of  the  individual  to  be  relieved  of  care 
and  responsibility. 

3.  The  commercial  activities  of  cities. 

4.  The  sociability,  diversion  and  sympathy  man  finds  in 
society. 

5.  The  educational  facilities  found  in  cities. 

It  is  in  the  second  cause,  the  inclination  of  the  individual 
to  be  relieved  of  care  and  responsibility,  that  I  find  the  root  of 
municipal  evil.  The  individual  will  not  bear  his  share  of  the 
public  burden.  He  will  pay  his  taxes  and  tithes,  but  he  will  not 
interest  himself  in  public  affairs.  He  will  neither  hold  public 
office  himself  nor  seek  to  secure  qualified  and  honest  officials 
to  act  in  his  stead.  Until  public  opinion  is  educated  to  a  point 
where  the  citizen  recognizes  his  individual  duty  to  the  State, 
no  great  reforms  will  be  obtained. 

My  subject  does  not  permit  me  to  dwell  upon  the  cause  of 
municipal  things,  and  I  hasten  to  describe  a  form  of  charter 
which  I  first  suggested  ten  years  ago,  and  which  was  presented 
again  this  year  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York  State,  but  which 
was  not  acted  upon.  It  was  intended  to  be  uniform  in  cities  of 
the  second  class  to  agree  with  the  new  constitutional  provisions, 
except,  of  course,  as  to  the  number  of  aldermen.  Briefly  stated, 
its  principal  features  were : 

I.  The  legislative  powers  shall  be  vested  in  a  dual  board 
of  representatives,  elected  biennially,  consisting  of 


142  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   ALBANY. 

(a)  A  Board  of  Aldermen,  of  nineteen  members,  chosen 
one  each  from  the  nineteen  wards  of  the  city  by  the  voters  of 
the  respective  wards.     This  board  to  hold   its  regular  sittings 
on  the  first  and  third  Mondays  of  each  month. 

(b)  A  Board  of  Councilmen,  of  nine  members,  chosen  on 
a  general  ballot  by  the  citizens.     This  board  to  hold  its  sittings 
on  the  second  and  fourth  Mondays  of  each  month.     To  provide 
for  emergencies,  upon  a  call  of  ten  members  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen  and  of  five  members  of  the  Board  of  Councilmen  the 
mayor  may  summon  both  boards  to  meet  on  the  same  day,  when 
they  shall  transact  such  business  only  as  shall  be  specified  in  the 
call.     All  measures,  bills,  ordinances  and  resolutions  must  pass 
both  boards,  and  be  subject  to  the  qualified  veto  of  the  mayor 
as  at  present  prescribed.     All  salaries  of  officials  shall  be  fixed 
and  their  duties  prescribed  by  the  joint  action  of  the  two  boards. 

The  first  board,  under  these  provisions,  preserves  the  local 
representative  character  of  the  present  system.  The  second  board 
creates  a  general  representative  character  in  the  legislative  field,, 
such  as  is  given  to  the  position  of  the  mayor  in  the  executive  field. 
This  second  board  is  proposed  on  the  theory  that  since  the  al- 
dermen legislate  for  the  entire  city,  the  entire  city  should  have  a 
voice  in  choosing  one  branch  of  the  legislative  government.  A 
bad  or  careless  measure  would  not  be  likely  to  pass  both  houses. 
Beyond  the  restriction  by  the  State  legislature,  that  the  city 
should  not  create  a  total  indebtedness  of  more,  say,  than  seven 
and  a  half  per  cent,  of  its  assessed  valuation,  the  local  legisla- 
ture should  have  power  to  legislate  on  all  matters  whatsoever 
affecting  the  interests  of  the  city.  The  Constitution  of  New 
York  State  limits  the  maximum  indebtedness  of  a  city  to  a  sum 
equal  to  ten  per  cent,  of  the  assessed  valuation.  By  confining 
the  city's  debt  to  a  lower  percentage  the  legislature  would  have 
a  margin  within  which  to  grant  or  withhold  further  increase  of 
debt. 

2.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  the  mayor  of 
the  city,  who  shall  be  elected  at  the  same  time  as  the  city  legis- 
lature. The  mayor  shall  have,  absolutely,  the  power  of  appoint- 


HON.    JOHN    BOYD    THACHER.  143 

ment  and  removal  of  all  heads  of  departments.  The  great  body 
of  trained  and  efficient  officeholders  shall  not  be  removed,  ex- 
cept the  mayor  shall  file  in  the  office  of  the  civil  service  com- 
missioner a  written  order  to  that  effect. 

Under  this  provision  all  boards,  commissions  and  other 
complicated  agencies  shall  be  abolished.  Responsibility  is  di- 
rectly fastened  on  the  mayor.  An  executive  board  has  no  re- 
vealed personality.  It  unfortunately  has  sometimes  a  real  per- 
sonality, through  the  domination  of  some  one  strong  member, 
who  hides  his  responsibility  behind  the  votes  of  his  fellow- 
members.  The  principle  of  boards  and  commissions  is  the 
most  unpardonable  makeshift  ever  proposed  for  the  exercise  of 
executive  functions.  When  the  board  or  commission  is  bi-par- 
tisan,  the  principle  is  seen  in  its  most  objectionable  form.  I 
acknowledge  the  high  character  and  patriotism  of  the  gentle- 
men composing  our  city  boards.  It  is  the  principle  of  a  com- 
plicated and  unwieldly  system  which  I  attack. 

3.  The  creation  of  a  permanent  department  of  registra- 
tion, the  two  commissioners  for  which  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
mayor  from  a  list  of  candidates  furnished  by  the  chairman  and 
secretary  of  the  general  city  committee  of  each  political  party, 
respectively,  in  the  manner  now  provided  by  law  for  the  selec- 
tion of  inspectors  of  election.  They  shall  hold  office  for  two 
years.  It  shall  be  their  duty  to  secure  and  receive  the  names 
of  all  male  citizens  over  twenty-one  years  entitled  to  vote,  and 
record  them  in  books  of  registry.  They  shall  close  their  books 
twenty- five  days  before  the  day  appointed  for  election,  and  shall 
place  in  the  hands  of  the  election  inspectors  the  list  of  voters 
entitled  to  vote  in  each  election  district.  They  shall  accuse  and 
prosecute,  before  the  day  of  election,  all  persons  discovered 
by  them  as  falsely  registered,  or  for  any  cause  found  not  entitled 
to  vote.  Within  ninety  days  after  the  election  they  shall  cause 
to  be  published  in  the  city  papers  the  names  of  all  persons  fail- 
ing to  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage. 

While  the  objection  to  any  board  other  than  that  of  a  single- 
head  commission  is  as  strong  in  this  case  as  in  any,  the  Constitution 


144  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   ALBANY. 

of  the  State  requires  that  boards  of  registration  shall  represent 
the  two  political  parties  casting  the  highest  and  next  to  the 
highest  number  of  votes  at  the  previous  election. 

Charging  the  commissioners  with  the  duty  of  prosecuting 
falsely  registered  persons  will  be  beneficent  in  its  effects  on  the 
suffrage.  As  the  law  is  now  written,  a  man  may  swear  in  his 
vote  at  the  polls  and  the  inspectors  are  obliged  to  receive  it. 
Afterward,  he  may  be  prosecuted.  But  afterward,  the  successful 
party  is  too  much  elated  and  the  defeated  party  is  too  much 
discouraged  to  prosecute.  The  damage  has  been  done.  The 
proposed  change  would  prevent  the  casting  of  an  ineligible  vote, 
and,  in  a  sense,  the  punishment,  while  following  the  crime  of 
falsely  registering,  will  precede  the  greater  crime  of  falsely 
voting.  It  is  locking  the  stable  door  after  the  horse  is  stolen. 

The  commissioners  are  not  to  act  in  a  judicial  capacity,  but 
shall  gather  and  present  to  a  competent  court  such  evidence  as 
shall  secure  to  the  citizens  the  right  of  suffrage  and  preserve  its 
purity.  They  shall  make  a  house-to-house  canvass  to  ascertain 
the  names  of  those  entitled  to  vote.  A  central  department  for 
registration  would  be  much  more  economical  than  the  system 
now  prevailing.  When  we  read  of  the  successes  of  municipal 
reforms  in  Great  Britain,  and  in  some  of  the  German  and  French 
cities,  we  must  remember  that  suffrage  abroad  is  restricted  and 
confined.  With  us  it  is  practically  universal.  We  can  take  no 
steps  backward  but  we  can  throw  around  the  exercise  of  the 
suffrage  a  greater  protection  and  defense.  Under  the  Constitu- 
tion, the  final  date  for  registration  may  be  fixed  by  law,  but  it 
must  be  in  our  city  at  least  ten  days  before  election.  If  the 
twenty-five-day  limit  be  found  insufficient  in  which  to  purge 
the  registry  books  of  names  of  persons  not  entitled  to  vote, 
subsequent  legislation  can  establish  a  longer  period.  As  the 
Constitution  requires  the  citizen  to  have  been  a  resident  of  his 
election  district  for  thirty  days,  the  registry  books  could  not 
finally  close  before  that  time.  When  the  books  of  registry  are 
completed  they  will  disclose  (i)  the  names  of  all  persons  who 
ought  to  vote  ;  (2)  the  names  of  all  persons  who  present  them- 


HON.   JOHN    BOYD   THACHER.  145 

selves  and  qualify  themselves  according  to  statute  to  vote ;  and 
•(3)  the  names  of  all  persons  who  actually  do  vote.  It  may  well 
be  held  that  the  exercise  of  the  suffrage  is  not  only  a  right  but 
a  duty,  and  the  public  is  entitled  to  know  the  names  of  those 
who  decline  to  assume  their  share  of  this  obligation.  There  is 
as  much  need  of  compulsory  suffrage  for  adults  as  there  is  of 
compulsory  education  for  children. 

I  am  persuaded  that  with  a  responsible,  dual-chambered 
legislature,  a  responsible  executive  and  a  perfected  system  of 
registration,  the  whole  watched  over  and  encouraged  by  an 
active  public  sentiment,  the  problem  of  municipal  reform  would 
i>e  solved  forever. 


146  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION    OF    PITTSBURG. 


MUNICIPAL   CONDITION    OF    PITTSBURG. 


GEORGE  W.  GUTHRIE,  ESQ. 


The  charter  of  the  city  of  Pittsburg  is  not  contained  in  one 
or  two  Acts  of  Assembly.  Its  organization  is  the  growth  of 
many  years  of  special  and  so-called  "  classified  "  legislation,  and 
cannot  be  fully  explained  in  the  time  allowed  me  by  your  com- 
mittee, or  be  properly  understood  without  some  account  of  its 
legal  history.  I  must,  therefore,  confine  myself  in  this  paper  to 
a  brief  outline  of  its  history,  accompanied  with  a  reference  to 
such  of  its  provisions  as  are  peculiarly  distinctive  and  may  be  of 
service  to  the  League  in  an  attempt  to  arrive  at  a  conclusion  as 
to  the  best  form  for  city  government. 

The  city  was  first  incorporated  by  a  special  Act  of  As- 
sembly, approved  March  18,  1816;  this  was  supplemented  by 
numerous  special  acts  regulating  its  affairs,  passed  from  time  to 
time  until  such  legislation  was  prevented  by  the  provisions  of 
the  Constitution  of  1874,  prohibiting  special  or  local  acts  regu- 
lating the  affairs  of  cities. 

The  relief  afforded  by  this  provision,  at  least,  so  far  as  the 
cities  of  Pittsburg  and  Philadelphia  were  concerned,  was  only 
temporary.  It  has  been  said  that  power  is  always  at  war  with 
its  limitations,  and  our  experience  in  this  matter  verifies  the 
truth  of  the  saying.  Those  having  control  of  city  affairs  were 
not  content  with  the  authority  which  they  already  had  over  the 
property  of  the  citizens,  and  those  having  control  of  the  ma- 
chinery of  legislation  were  not  willing  to  surrender  their  power 
over  questions  of  this  character  and  keep  within  the  barriers  in- 
tended to  restrict  their  discretion.  At  the  first  session  of  the 
legislature  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  a  scheme  was 
invented  by  which  this  restriction  could  be  practically  evaded. 
The  legislature  divided  the  cities  of  the  State  into  three  classes, 


GEORGE    W.    GUTHRIE.  147 


according  to  their  population,  denominating  them,  respectively, 
cities  of  the  first,  second  and  third  class,  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
being  the  only  city  of  the  first  class,  and  the  city  of  Pittsburgh 
the  only  city  of  the  second  class  (the  city  of  Allegheny  not  be- 
coming a  city  of  the  second  class  until  December,  1890).  In 
this  way  special  legislation  affecting  these  two  cities  was  easily 
secured,  the  only  difference  being  that  the  acts  were  entitled 
acts  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  cities  of  the  first  or  second  class, 
respectively,  instead  of  acts  to  amend  the  charter  of  the  city  of 
Pittsburg  or  Philadelphia. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  sustained  this  classification 
and  held  that  laws  affecting  cities  of  a  particular  class  were  con- 
stitutional, so  long  as  they  were  strictly  confined  to  the  regula- 
tion of  the  corporate  powers  of  the  various  municipalities,  and 
the  number,  character,  powers  and  duties  of  the  officers  em- 
ployed in  the  administration  of  their  affairs. 

The  influences  controlling  legislation  having  broken  down  the 
barriers  of  the  Constitution,  were  not  willing  to  remain  within  the 
limits  prescribed  by  the  Supreme  Court.  Almost  every  session  of 
the  legislature  for  several  years  past  has  produced  some  legislation 
nominally  regulating  the  affairs  of  cities  of  the  second  class,  but 
really  intended  for  Pittsburg  alone.  Much  of  this  legislation 
was  not  restricted  within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  every  act  which  exceeded  these  limits  when  brought 
before  that  court  has  been  decided  unconstitutional.  The  neces- 
sary consequence  of  this  has  been  great  confusion  and  uncer- 
tainty in  our  municipal  affairs,  and  extensive  and  protracted 
litigation,  which  has  been  aggravated  by  the  rule  of  interpreta- 
tion adopted  by  the  court  that  these  classified  acts  being  general 
laws,  only  repealed  such  provisions  of  the  prior  special  laws  as 
were  clearly  inconsistent  with  them. 

Act  after  act  has  been  decided  unconstitutional,  either  in 
whole  or  in  part ;  powers  supposed  to  have  been  and  intended 
to  be  repealed  have  been  held  in  force ;  some  supposed  to  have 
been  and  intended  to  be  retained  have  been  held  to  be  abolished ; 
and  those  intended  to  be  conferred  on  one  officer  or  department 


148  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   PITTSBURG. 

have  been  held  to  belong  to  some  other.  Until  this  device  of 
classified  legislation  is  entirely  rooted  out,  the  cities  of  Penn- 
sylvania will  never  be  free  from  this  uncertainty  as  to  the  valid- 
ity and  operation  of  the  laws  affecting  them,  which  is  of  itself  a 
great  evil,  and  is  constantly  growing  more  burdensome  each 
year. 

Of  the  classified  legislation  regulating  cities  of  the  second 
class  probably  the  most  important  is  an  act  passed  June  14, 
1887,  and  which  was  intended  to  and  did  work  a  very  radical 
change  in  the  government  of  the  city  of  Pittsburg,  though  we 
have  not  yet  ascertained  what  its  full  effect  is. 

Prior  to  the  first  Monday  of  January,  1888,  when  this  act 
went  into  effect,  practically  the  whole  corporate  power  of  the 
city  was  vested  in  the  Councils,  which  were  composed  of  two 
bodies,  called,  respectively,  the  Select  and  Common  Councils, 
the  members  of  which  were  elected  from  the  different  wards  of 
the  city,  the  constituencies  being  the  same,  though  the  term  of 
service  of  Select  Councilmen  was  two  years,  and  of  Common 
Councilmen  one  year.  There  was  a  mayor,  city  treasurer  and 
controller  elected  by  the  people,  and  serving  for  three  years,  but 
their  powers  were  very  much  restricted.  The  mayor  was  little 
more  than  the  chief  peace  officer  and  police  magistrate  of  the 
city,  with  a  limited  power  of  veto  over  the  legislative  acts  of 
Councils,  but  no  power  or  authority  to  interfere  with  their  ex- 
ecutive functions.  The  treasurer  was  authorized  to  receive  all 
city  taxes  and  assessments  voluntarily  paid  within  certain  dates 
(except  certain  street  assessments,  which  were  payable  to  the 
city  attorney),  and  was  required  to  deposit  the  money  in  certain 
depositories  selected  by  the  Finance  Committee  of  Councils, 
and  pay  the  same  out  on  warrants  authorized  by  the  proper 
committee  of  Councils,  signed  by  the  mayor  and  countersigned 
by  the  controller ;  and  the  controller  kept  the  accounts  of  the 
city,  examined  all  bills  and  claims  against  it,  and  submitted  them 
to  the  proper  committee  of  Councils  (whose  approval  was  con- 
clusive upon  him,  except,  possibly,  in  cases  of  fraud  or  a  clear 
mistake),  but  had  substantially  no  discretionary  power. 


GEORGE   W.    GUTHRIE.  149 


With  these  exceptions  all  the  legislative  and  executive 
powers  of  the  city  were  vested  in  Councils.  Its  legislative 
powers  were  exercised  by  ordinances  (which,  as  already  stated, 
were  subject  to  a  limited  power  of  veto  by  the  mayor),  and  its 
executive  powers  by  joint  committees  appointed  by  the  presiding 
officers  of  the  respective  bodies,  or  by  officers  or  commissions 
created  or  appointed  by  them. 

(The  public  school  system  was  and  still  is  independent  of 
the  municipality.  An  act  was  passed  at  the  last  session  of  the 
legislature  which  would  have  destroyed  this  independence,  but 
it  was  decided  unconstitutional.) 

This  system  became  in  time  very  unsatisfactory,  but  every 
demand  for  a  change  was  resisted  by  those  having  control  of 
city  affairs,  until,  finally,  public  clamor  and  their  own  necessities 
compelled  them  to  prepare  and  secure  the  passage  of  the  act 
referred  to. 

It  was  entitled  "  An  act  in  Relation  to  the  Government  of 
Cities  of  the  Second  Class,"  and  contained  twenty-six  sections. 
It  was  so  unskillfully  drafted  that  the  Supreme  Court  decided 
that  the  whole  of  three  and  material  parts  of  two  other  sections 
are  unconstitutional,  and  owing  to  this  fact,  and  the  obscure  and 
loose  phraseology  of  the  rest  of  the  act,  the  meaning  and  effect 
of  many  other  sections  are  doubtful  and  uncertain. 

It  continued  the  Select  and  Common  Councils  (the  term  of 
Select  Councilmen  being  extended  to  four  years,  one-half  to  be 
elected  every  second  year,  and  of  Common  Councilmen  to  two 
years),  but  restricted  them  to  purely  legislative  powers  and  to 
the  selection  of  certain  officers,  including  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments, the  city  assessors,  the  city  attorney  and  the  collector  of 
delinquent  taxes. 

Three  departments  were  created  (named,  respectively,  Pub- 
lic Works,  Public  Safety  and  Public  Charity),  to  which  all  exec- 
utive powers  were  assigned  ;  each  department  to  have  a  head 
(now  called  director),  elected  by  Councils  and  authorized  to  ap- 
point and  control,  and,  therefore,  to  remove  at  will,  all  officers 
and  employees  therein. 


I5O  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF    PITTSBURG. 

(Neither  the  time  for  the  election  nor  the  term  of  office  of 
these  heads  of  departments  .was  fixed,  but  Councils  have  at- 
tempted to  supply  the  omission  by  fixing  the  time  of  election  as 
the  month  of  December  prior  to  the  expiration  of  their  own 
term  (the  election  for  Councilmen  takes  place  in  February),  and 
the  term  of  office  as  four  years  from  the  first  day  of  January  fol- 
lowing, thereby  providing  for  their  election  by  an  expiring 
Council  and  continuing  them  in  office  over  two  Councilmanic 
elections). 

To  the  Department  of  Public  Safety  was  confided  "  the  care, 
management,  administration  and  supervision  "  of  the  police,  fire, 
city  telegraphs,  public  health  and  inspection  of  buildings. 

To  the  Department  of  Public  Works  was  confided  "  the  di- 
rection "  of  water,  gas,  streets,  bridges,  sewers,  parks,  markets, 
wharves  and  the  construction  of  public  works. 

To  the  Department  of  Public  Charities  was  confided  "  the 
care,  management,  administration  and  supervision  "  of  all  public 
charities. 

(The  act  directed  that  all  executive  powers  theretofore  con- 
ferred or  duties  imposed  upon  any  executive  officer,  commission 
or  committee  should  be  exercised  or  discharged  by  the  proper 
department,  but  this  provision,  as  also  one  authorizing  Councils 
to  create  such  additional  departments  as  it  might  think  proper, 
and  under  which  it  attempted  to  create  a  Department  of  Awards, 
have  been  decided  to  be  unconstitutional  and  void). 

The  mayor  was  given  "  general  supervision  of  all  depart- 
ments, with  power  to  direct  their  officers  within  their  duties 
under  the  laws  and  ordinances  ;  "  but  no  means  were  provided 
for  the  enforcement  of  this  power,  and  as  Councils  have  refused 
to  pass  any  ordinance  to  supply  the  omission,  this,  as  well  as  the 
express  power  to  prescribe  rules  and  regulations  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  police,  given  to  him  by  a  former  statute,  have  been 
practically,  ignored. 

A  circumstance,  which  curiously  illustrates  official  indiffer- 
ence to  the  requirements  of  law  when  not  enforced  by  any 
superior  power,  has  just  been  made  public.  Although  the 


GEORGE   W.    GUTHRIE. 


supervision  of  all  public  works  is  given  to  the  Department  of 
Public  Works,  and  of  the  police  to  the  Department  of  Public 
Safety,  by  some  sort  of  treaty,  or  tacit  understanding,  the  head 
of  the  Department  of  Public  Works  has  been  permitted  to  em- 
ploy and  control  the  park  police,  and  in  return  the  head  of  the 
Department  of  Public  Safety  has  been  permitted  to  control  the 
erection  of  the  buildings  intended  for  his  department. 

Elected  by  an  expiring  Council,  the  heads  of  the  various 
departments  are  free  to  use  the  whole  executive  power  and  pub- 
lic patronage  of  the  city  to  secure  the  nomination  and  election 
to  Council  of  members  subservient  to  themselves.  Should  they 
fail  at  the  first  election  they  have  an  opportunity  to  recover 
themselves  at  the  next,  which  takes  place  two  years  thereafter, 
and  then  have  still  two  years  more  in  which  to  use  the  same  powers 
to  subordinate  to  their  control  any  adverse  members  who  may 
have  been  elected,  notwithstanding  their  opposition. 

Being  free  from  supervision  or  control,  not  being  directly 
responsible  to  the  people,  holding  office  for  a  fixed  term  by 
election  by  an  expired  Council,  and  dominating  the  new  one,  a 
majority  of  .the  members  of  which  owe  their  seats  to  their  favor, 
they  are  practically  supreme  in  the  exercise  of  the  great  powers 
entrusted  to  or  usurped  by  them. 

Any  system  of  letting  contracts  would  be  dangerous  under 
such  uncontrolled  power,  but  our  system  is  peculiarly  so. 

The  specifications  are  prepared  and  bids  opened  by  the 
.head  of  the  department  having  charge  of  the  subject-matter, 
and  the  law  authorizes  the  letting  of  the  contract,  not  simply  to 
the  lowest,  but  to  the  lowest  responsible  bidder.  As  the  Supreme 
Court  has  held  that  this  vests  in  the  municipal  authorities  a 
discretion  as  to  the  relative  responsibility  of  the  bidders  (in- 
cluding not  only  their  financial  standing,  but  also  their  trust- 
worthiness and  capacity  to  fill  the  contract),  which  cannot  be 
reviewed  by  the  courts  except  on  proof  of  express  frauds,  the 
grossest  favoritism  is  possible. 

Any  one  familiar  with  city  affairs,  and  knowing  the  vast 
number  of  persons  dependent,  directly  or  indirectly,  upon  mu- 


MUNICIPAL  CONDITION   OF   PITTSBURG. 


nicipal  work,  and  the  potent  influence  of  uncontrolled  discretion- 
in  the  character  and  distribution  of  public  improvements  and 
benefits  and  the  letting  of  contracts  under  regulations  such  as 
these  referred  to,  will  easily  recognize  the  fact  that  the  existence 
of  such  a  system  is  a  constant  menace  to  the  interests  of  the 
people  and  incompatible  with  free  government. 

There  are  two  factors  in  Pittsburg  which  contribute  largely 
to  the  perpetuation  and  power  of  this  combination. 

One  is  the  firm  engaged  in  city  contracting,  to  which,  as  the 
city  controller  testified  a  few  months  ago  when  a  witness  before 
a  Senate  Committee,  the  contracts  for  public  work  principally 
go,  and  whose  work  must  be  accepted  or  condemned  by  the 
head  of  the  Department  of  Public  Works.  The  most  prominent 
member  of  this  firm,  the  chairman  of  the  Republican  City 
Committee,  is  serving  his  second  term  in  the  State  Senate  and  is- 
largely  interested  in  the  passenger  railway  combination  ;  his 
official  positions  and  the  very  large  number  of  persons  employed 
by  him  in  these  works  make  his  political  influence  extremely 
potent. 

The  other  is  the  street  car  companies.  Under  the  Constitu- 
tion of  Pennsylvania  no  passenger  railway  can  be  constructed 
in  any  city  without  the  consent  of  the  municipal  authorities. 
This  provision,  intended  for  the  protection  of  the  people,  has 
been  made  an  instrument  of  oppression.  In  the  grants  of  fran- 
chises to  these  companies  the  grossest  favoritism  has  been 
shown  ;  every  demand  of  the  favored  individual  has  been  in- 
stantly granted,  while  competition  with  them  has  for  years  been 
discouraged  ;  franchises  of  great  value  have  been  given  to  them 
without  any  adequate  return  to  the  city,  either  in  the  way  of 
bonus,  taxation  or  the  maintenance  of  the  streets  over  which 
they  run.  (The  annual  tax  paid  by  all  the  companies  is  less 
than  $15,000  ;  they  are  required  by  law  to  pave  and  keep  in  re- 
pair that  portion  of  the  street  between  their  tracks,  but  while 
they  did  in  the  construction  of  their  roads  repave  between  the 
tracks,  the  requirement  to  keep  them  in  repair  has  been  con- 
strued very  liberally  in  their  favor  and  very  laxly  complied  with)~ 


GEORGE   W.    GUTHRIE.  155 


In  this  way  large  private  fortunes  have  been  made  for  the  favored 
individuals  and  a  strong  political  power  created.  This  year  the 
principal  lines  have  been  consolidated  under  one  organization, 
the  head  of  which  is  acknowledged  to  be  one  of,  if  not  the  most,, 
influential  man  in  the  control  of  city  politics. 

Mutual  good  will  and  favor  between  these  two  interests  and 
the  heads  of  the  departments  is  of  vital  importance  to  them  all. 

That  an  association  exists  between  these  interests  for  the 
control  of  our  city  affairs  is  well  known :  that  it  is  intended  to 
promote  the  private  interests  of  the  parties  to  it,  and  is  fraught 
with  danger  alike  to  the  interests  of  the  taxpayers  and  the 
liberty  of  the  citizens,  has  been  clearly  shown  by  disclosures 
made  in  March  last. 

During  the  late  city  campaign,  the  chairman  of  the  Repub- 
lican City  Committee  and  the  head  of  the  Department  of  Public 
Safety  went  to  Washington  and  submitted  to  the  Chairman  of 
the  Republican  State  Committee,  who  was  at  the  same  time  a 
United  States  senator,  a  draft  of  an  "  agreement "  (?)  to  be  made 
between  them,  and  to  be  "  ratified  "  by  the  head  of  the  consoli- 
dated street  car  lines.  The  agreement  (which  fortunately  was 
not  perfected)  recited  its  purpose  to  be  to  promote  "  the  mutual 
political  and  business  advantage  "  of  the  parties  to  it :  to  promote 
this  purpose  the  senator  was  to  secure  the  support  of  his  friends 
and  associates  for  the  Republican  city  ticket,  and  "  discourage  all 
factional  fighting  by  them  for  county  offices,"  and  to  give  his  hearty 
"  co-operation  and  help  "  to  "  legislation  which  may  affect  their 
[the  proponents']  business ; "  in  return  for  which  they  were  to 
secure  the  election  from  Allegheny  County  of  delegates  to  the 
State  and  National  Conventions,  and  senators  and  representatives 
in  the  legislature  who  would  "  be  guided  in  all  matters  "  by  his 
wishes. 

Comment  is  unnecessary  on  such  a  proposition,  which  as- 
sumes to  trade  in  public  franchises,  legislation  and  offices,  in- 
cluding even  the  representatives  of  a  free  people  in  the  legisla- 
ture of  the  State,  as  though  they  were  private  property.  It  is 
sufficient  to  say  that  it  clearly  displays  the  character  and  pur- 
pose of  the  "  association." 


154  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   PITTSBURG. 

No  condemnation  can  be  too  severe.  •  It  was  not  only  an 
attempt  to  bribe  an  official  to  use  for  private  advantage  the  great 
powers  and  influences  entrusted  to  him  to  be  used  solely  for 
public  benefit,  but  it  was  also  an  offer  to  reward  his  turpitude, 
not  with  their  own  means,  but  by  the  betrayal  of  the  confidence 
and  political  influence  of  a  whole  community,  whose  representa- 
tives in  both  the  legislature  and  political  conventions  should  be 
delivered  over  to  his  guidance  and  control. 

There  is  no  bureau  or  department  of  supplies  for  the  city, 
nor  any  officer  exercising  a  general  supervision  over  their 
necessity,  distribution  and  use,  and  the  accounting  for  old 
materials,  much  of  which  is  valuable  and  should  be  sold  for  the 
benefit  of  the  city.  This  matter  is  left  to  the  uncontrolled  dis- 
cretion of  the  respective  departments,  a  system  which  no  private 
company  would  tolerate. 

The  legislative  powers  of  Councils  are  exercised  by  resolu- 
tions or  ordinances.  An  ordinance  cannot  contain  more  than 
one  subject,  or  become  a  law  on  the  same  day  on  which  it  is 
first  introduced  or  reported,  and  requires  for  its  passage  the 
affirmative  votes  of  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elected  to 
each  branch.  Before  it  can  become  a  law  it  must  be  submitted 
to  the  mayor  for  his  approval.  If  he  approves  it,  or  fails  to 
return  it  within  the  time  fixed,  it  becomes  effective ;  if  he  disap- 
proves it,  it  may  be  passed  over  his  veto  by  the  affirmative  votes 
of  three-fifths  of  the  members  elected  to  each  branch. 

The  purpose  of  the  provision  that  no  bill  shall  become  a 
law  on  the  same  day  on  which  it  was  introduced  or  reported  is 
easily  defeated  by  the  introduction  of  blank  ordinances,  which 
can  be  immediately  referred  to  the  proper  committee  and  knowl- 
edge of  what  is  intended  kept  from  the  public  until  arrange- 
ments for  its  passage  have  been  perfected,  thereby  preventing 
public  comment  or  opposition. 

Tax  and  appropriation  ordinances  must  be  passed  annually. 
The  law  requires  this  to  be  done  in  the  month  of  February,  but 
it  is  never  done  until  after  the  municipal  elections. 

The  appropriations  are  all  embraced  in  one  ordinance.     It 


GEORGE   W.    GUTHRIE.  155 


is  introduced  in  blank  and  referred  to  the  Finance  Committee, 
which  perfects  it  in  secret  session  and  reports  it  to  Councils  when 
ready  for  passage.  It  appropriates  specific  sums  for  specific  pur- 
poses. For  many  years  this  was  held  to  convey  authority  to  the 
heads  of  the  respective  departments  Jo  which  the  different  sub- 
ject-matters belonged,  to  contract  for  the  expenditure  of  the 
amount  named,  the  contracts  being  reported  to  Councils  and  ap- 
proved by  a  viva  voce  vote  without  being  submitted  to  the  mayor 
for  his  approval.  A  few  years  ago  it  was  decided  that  this  was 
illegal,  and  that  all  contracts  must  be  made  by  ordinances  which 
must  be  submitted  to  and  approved  by  the  mayor  or  passed  over 
his  veto.  But  large  sums  of  money  are  disbursed  annually  by 
the  departments  for  many  purposes  for  which  no  contract  is 
made.  These  disbursements  are  made  under  the  arbitrary  direc- 
tion of  the  heads  of  the  respective  departments  without  the  con- 
trol of  either  the  mayor  or  Councils  so  long  as  they  do  not  ex- 
ceed the  amount  mentioned  in  the  appropriation  ordinance.  In 
the  matter  of  the  improvement  of  the  parks  alone,  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  have  in  this  way  been  expended  by  the 
head  of  the  Department  of  Public  Works  ;  he  determines  the 
location  and  character  of  the  roads,  bridges  and  other  improve- 
ments, and  changes  them  when  he  sees  fit  without  any  control 
or  supervision  whatever.  The  legality  of  this  practice  is,  to  say 
the  least,  very  questionable  and  its  improvidence  clear. 

The  main  part  of  the  city  is  supplied  with  water  from  works 
owned  by  the  city  and  erected  by  general  taxation ;  what  is 
called  the  South  Side,  however,  is  supplied  with  water  by  a 
private  corporation,  which  is  prohibited  from  charging  higher 
water  rents  than  those  charged  by  the  city  itself. 

Until  this  year  the  water  rents,  which  are  fixed  annually  by 
Councils,  were  nearly  if  not  quite  double  the  cost  of  furnishing 
the  water.  While  the  exaction  of  excessive  rents  by  the  city 
itself  was  simply  an  improvident  system  of  raising  revenues, 
those  paid  on  the  South  Side  inured  to  the  benefit  of  a  private 
corporation;  this  led  to  continuous  complaint  from  the  rent- 
payers  and  the  public  press,  but  without  any  effect  until  this 


156  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   PITTSBURG. 

year,  when  Councils  ordered  a  small  reduction,  but  the  amount 
charged  is  still  greatly  above  cost. 

The  water  is  taken  from  the  Allegheny  and  Monongahela 
Rivers ;  there  have  been  great  complaints  of  the  impurities  of 
the  water  supply,  particula/ly  from  members  of  the  medical  fra- 
ternity, who  attribute  to  this  cause  the  continual  prevalence  of 
typhoid  fever.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  induce  the  city 
authorities  to  take  steps  to  secure  the  filtration  of  the  water,  but 
as  yet  without  success. 

Public  light  is  furnished  by  private  corporations,  the  city 
having  no  plant  of  its  own.  There  is  an  old  contract  by  which 
one  of  the  gas  companies  is  required  to  furnish  a  large  quantity 
of  gas  for  public  use  free  of  charge,  but  for  years  only  a  very 
small  part  of  it  has  been  called  for. 

The  city  treasurer  receives  all  taxes,  water  rents  and  assess- 
ments (except  such  assessments  for  damages  for  paving  and1 
grading  streets,  which  are  primarily  payable  to  and  disbursed  by 
the  city  attorney),  voluntarily  paid  within  certain  dates  fixed  by 
law,  and  is  required  to  deposit  the  money  immediately  in  three 
banks  designated  by  the  finance  committee,  and  approved  by 
Councils,  distributing  it  equally  among  them  unless  otherwise 
directed  by  that  committee. 

The  city  taxes  are  payable  in  two  installments,  one-half  in 
the  months  of  March  and  April  and  the  other  half  in  Septem- 
ber, with  the  privilege  to  the  taxpayer  of  paying  the  whole  dur- 
ing the  month  of  March,  and  receiving  in  consideration  there- 
for a  discount  of  five  per  cent,  on  the  second  installment.  The 
water  rents  are  payable  during  the  month  of  June.  The  first  in- 
stallment of  city  taxes  becomes  delinquent  on  the  first  day  of 
May ;  the  water  rents  on  the  first  day  of  July,  and  the  second 
installment  of  city  taxes  on  the  first  day  of  October  ;  thereafter 
they  must  be  paid  to  the  collector  of  delinquent  taxes,  who  is 
elected  by  Councils  for  five  years,  and  receives  for  his  services  a 
commission  of  five  per  cent.,  to  be  paid  by  the  delinquent.  As 
the  collector  is  not  required  to,  and  never  does,  take  any  steps 
to  enforce  payment  until  one  year  after  the  second  installment 


GEORGE   W.    GUTHRIE.  157 


ihas  become  delinquent,  the  effect  of  this  system  is  to  enable  tax- 
payers to  defer  payment  for  that  period  by  paying  to  the  collec- 
tor for  his  own  use  five  per  cent.,  which  is  equivalent  to  a  loan 
of  that  amount  at  the  rate  of  about  four  per  cent,  per  annum,  a 
much  more  favorable  one  than  can  be  obtained  in  any  other  way. 

The  effect  of  this  system  is  what  would  be  naturally  antici- 
pated. Delinquencies  have  been  increasing  at  a  very  rapid  rate 
ever  since  it  was  adopted,  thereby  making  the  office  enormously 
profitable  to  the  collector.  Of  the  taxes  of  1895  nearly,  or  not 
-wholly,  $1,250,000  became  delinquent,  from  which  the  collector 
-will  realize  his  commission  of  five  per  cent.  Besides  this,  as  the 
•full  amount  of  the  taxes  is  appropriated  each  year,  and  required 
to  meet  the  annual  expenses  of  the  city,  it  is  yearly  obliged 
to  borrow  the  amount  of  the  delinquencies,  and  pay  therefor 
interest  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent,  to  close  over  the  gap. 

There  are  two  other  very  vicious  points  in  this  system.  In 
the  first  place  the  collector  is  only  required  to  turn  over  his  col- 
lections monthly ;  in  the  second  place,  at  the  end  of  the  year 
after  the  second  installment  has  become  delinquent,  he  is  required 
to  advertise  the  names  of  all  delinquents  and  the  amounts  due 
in  five  daily  papers.  It  is  true  that  the  cost  of  the  advertise- 
ments are  charged  to  the  delinquents,  but  it  is  always  paid  in 
the  first  instance  by  the  city,  and  in  no  instance  has  the  full 
•amount  ever  been  repaid.  As  the  rate  paid  is  very  heavy,  and 
the  delinquencies  are  continually  growing,  it  is  a  continually  in- 
creasing burden  to  the  city,  without  any  corresponding  benefit  to 
any  person  except  the  favored  papers,  which  have  been  hereto- 
fore selected  by  the  collector  at  his  own  discretion,  and  as  the 
rate  paid  is  very  large  and  liberal,  the  power  of  selection  gives 
iiim  a  very  influential  patronage. 

The  first  general  movement  towards  the  improvement  of  the 
.new  districts  of  the  city  was  commenced  about  1870,  under  a 
series  of  acts  called  the  Penn  Avenue  Acts.  This  system  con- 
templated the  improvement  of  the  streets  by  commissions 
•elected  by  the  property  owners,  the  money  necessary  to  pay  for 
the  opening,  grading  and  paving  of  the  streets  to  be  raised  by 


158  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   PITTSBURG. 

selling  bonds  of  the  city,  but  ultimately  to  be  assessed  on  the 
property  fronting  thereon.  A  large  number  of  streets  were 
improved  under  this  system  at  a  cost  of  several  millions  of 
dollars  ;  a  small  part  of  the  cost  was  voluntarily  paid  by  some 
of  the  property  owners,  but  others  resisted,  and  the  Supreme 
Court  decided  the  acts  unconstitutional,  and  the  city  found  itself 
burdened  with  a  debt  of  about  $6,500,000,  the  amount  of  bonds 
still  outstanding  at  the  time  the  decision  was  made.  This,  and 
the  panic  of  1873,  with  the  accompanying  depreciation  of  prop- 
erty, deterred  improvements  for  many  years. 

With  the  revival  of  prosperity  another  movement  was  made 
in  the  same  direction.  New  acts  were  prepared  and  passed 
providing  for  a  different  system  of  improvement,  but  also  at  the 
cost  of  the  property  fronting  thereon,  under  which  the  city  in- 
volved itself  in  the  expenditure  of  about  $2,500,000,  expecting 
to  collect  the  amount  from  the  property  specially  benefited. 
These  acts  were  also  decided  unconstitutional,  but  with  the  aid 
of  private  counsel  acts  were  prepared,  called  the  "  Curative 
Acts,"  which  were  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court,  under 
which  the  city  has  been  able  to  save  itself  from  this  burden  and 
collect  the  amount  by  assessments  on  the  properties. 

When  preparing  the  so-called  "  curative "  legislation  the 
same  counsel  prepared  a  system  providing  for  the  opening, 
grading  and  paving  of  streets,  which  was  passed  by  the  legisla- 
ture and  has  been  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court. 

This  act  contained  a  provision  that  the  improvement  should 
be  made  only  on  the  petition  of  a  majority  of  property  owners 
This  limitation  on  their  power  proved  unsatisfactory  to  the  city 
authorities,  and  at  the  last  session  of  the  legislature  an  act  was 
secured  authorizing  the  opening,  grading  and  paving  of  streets 
at  the  expense  of  the  property  owners  without  their  consent. 
Proceedings  have  been  commenced  under  this  new  provision, 
but  no  work  has  yet  been  finished,  and  consequently  its  validity 
has  not  yet  been  tested. 

The  main  sewers  in  the  new  part  of  the  city  were  built 
under  a  system  providing  for  the  assessment  of  the  cost  on  the 


GEORGE   W.    GUTHRIE.  159 


properties  benefited.  The  amount  expended  on  this  work  has 
been  very  great.  The  Supreme  Court  has  recently  decided  that 
the  cost  of  these  main  sewers  could  not  be  collected  from  the 
property  owners.  Fortunately  for  the  city,  however,  the  prop- 
erty owners  had  voluntarily  paid  the  bulk  of  the  assessments,  and 
the  loss  to  the  city  will  be  comparatively  very  light,  and  as  the 
main  sewers  have  nearly  all  been  built,  it  will  make  very  little 
difference  to  the  public. 

While  there  has  been  much  to  give  the  citizens  just  cause 
of  complaint  concerning  the  management  of  the  sinking  funds 
of  the  city,  still,  owing  to  the  admirable  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution, there  was  from  1874  until  about  two  years  ago  a  steady, 
and  during  the  latter  part  of  that  period,  a  rapid  decrease  of  our 
bonded  indebtedness.  Within  the  last  few  years  arrangements 
have  been  made  to  increase  our  debt  $6,250,000.  A  large  part 
of  the  additional  indebtedness  has  already  been  incurred,  but 
even  when  all  incurred  the  total  debt  will  not  be  as  great  as  it 
was  in  the  past,  the  percentage  of  the  debt  to  the  valuation  will 
be  very  much  less,  and  a  compliance  with  the  constitutional  re- 
quirements, which  is  unavoidable  and  certain,  will  secure  its  con- 
tinuous reduction  and  ultimate  extinguishment. 

In  spite  of  bad  municipal  management,  our  city  has  de- 
veloped greatly  in  the  past,  and  there  is  promise  of  still  greater 
development  in  the  future.  We  have  two  parks  (one  the  gift  of 
a  lady,  who  is  a  large  property  owner  in  the  city),  which  in  a  few 
years  will  add  greatly  to  the  healthfulness  and  attractiveness  of 
our  city  life ;  we  have  grand  conservatories,  the  gift  of  another 
property  owner ;  and  we  have  the  commencement  of  a  magnifi- 
cent system  of  public  libraries,  the  gift  of  another  property 
owner,  which,  when  completed,  will  be  one  of  the  finest  in  the 
world. 

Many  miles  of  new  streets  have  been  opened,  graded  and 
paved  at  the  expense  of  the  property  fronting  thereon,  and  many 
more  miles  of  old  streets  have  been  repaved  at  the  expense  of 
the  city. 

We  have  just  completed  a  public  bridge  across  the  Monon- 


I6O  MUNICIPAL   CONDITION   OF   PITTSBURG. 

gahela  River,  connecting  the  South  Side  with  the  main  city; 
two  other  bridges  over  the  same  stream  have  just  been  pur- 
chased from  private  companies  and  made  free ;  a  third  one,  and 
the  only  one  remaining,  has  been  practically  purchased  from 
another  company,  but  it  has  not  yet  been  taken  possession  of 
by  the  city. 

With  increased  and  constantly  increasing  transportation 
facilities  our  manufactures  and  commerce  have  grown  to  gigan- 
tic proportions. 

The  taxable  valuation  of  our  property,  as  shown  by  the 
last  assessment,  is  #287,322,894.  Our  population,  according  to 
the  census  of  1890,  was  241,217;  this,  however,  is  no  proper 
basis  for  comparison  with  other  cities,  the  territory  embraced 
within  our  corporate  limits  being  so  small.  If  the  corporate 
limits  of  all  the  cities  were  extended  so  as  to  make  them  equal 
in  area  with  Chicago,  and  no  territory  added  to  Pittsburg  but 
what,  in  manufactures,  commerce  and  financial  exchange,  is 
properly  connected  with  and  tributary  to  it,  it  would  take  its 
place  as  eilher  the  fifth  or  sixth  city  of  the  United  States. 

This  is  the  proper  test :  No  two  cities  in  the  country  have 
the  same  corporate  limits,  therefore  comparisons  based  on  them 
must  be  deceptive.  Only  a  comparison  based  on  limits  fixed 
by  the  laws  of  trade,  grouping  together  only  those  areas  which 
are  closely  united  by  common  interests,  will  properly  determine 
the  relative  positions  to  which  different  communities  are  entitled 
an  population,  manufactures  and  commerce. 

When,  in  December  last,  the  Citizens'  Municipal  League  of 
Pittsburg  commenced  its  movement  for  reform  the  cause  seemed 
hopeless.  The  citizens  had  been  disheartened  by  frequent  de- 
feats and  failures ;  the  forces  arrayed  against  them  were  confi- 
dent from  continued  victories,  and  seemed  to  be  unconquerable. 
The  abuses  of  administration  were  entrenched  by  law ;  the 
heads  of  departments  had  just  been  re-elected  for  four  years,  the 
ring  organization  was  perfect  in  every  detail ;  its  members  were 
held  together  by  the  cohesive  force  of  public  plunder,  and  its 
managers  had  ample  sources  on  which  to  draw  for  all  the  money 


GEORGE   W.    GUTHRIE.  l6l 


which  might  be  needed  for  any  purpose,  and  had  the  influence 
which  flows  from  the  absolute  power  to  distribute  the  public 
patronage,  franchises  and  improvements ;  and  it  was  supported 
by  thousands  of  voters  who  were  dependent  on  city  work  and 
knew  that  active,  willing  and  efficient  service  was  the  price  they 
must  pay  for  the  opportunity  to  earn  a  living  for  themselves  and 
family. 

For  six  weeks  our  campaign  was  waged  in  every  ward  and 
school  district  in  the  city ;  with  the  result  that  on  a  total  vote  of 
39,8 1 2,  nearly  seven  thousand  more  than  the  largest,  vote  ever 
polled  in  the  city  at  any  election,  national,  State  or  local,  the 
majority  against  us  on  the  face  of  the  returns  was  only  1292, 
and  the  officers  and  attorneys  of  the  League  charge  and  expect 
to  prove  in  the  contest  now  pending  that  this  majority  was 
secured  only  by  gross  violation  of  the  law  and  fraudulent 
counts. 

This  indicates  an  aroused  public  sentiment  in  the  commu- 
nity, which  is  the  first  step  towards  reform ;  with  this  and  a  new 
charter,  of  which  we  have  a  reasonable  assurance,  we  have  cause 
to  look  forward  to  a  bright  future,  in  which  prosperity  and  good 
government  will  secure  for  us  and  those  to  come  after  us  a  great 
city,  where  "  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  "  will  be 
secured  to  all,  and  every  man  can  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  own 
labor  in  health  and  peace. 


1 62  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 


CHICAGO  SINCE  THE  ADOPTION  OF  MUNICI- 
PAL CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 


MERRITT  STARR,  ESQ. 


You  have  asked  me  to  give  a  description  of  the  workings 
of  the  municipal  machine  in  Chicago  since  the  adoption  of  the 
civil  service  law.  I  have  stated  here  in  my  notes  an  abstract  of 
the  Illinois  civil  service  law  and  an  abstract  of  the  rules  of  the 
Chicago  Civil  Service  Commission,  but  anticipating  that  you  will 
bid  me  "  skip  all  that,"  in  the  language  of  the  bellman  as  re- 
ported in  the  baker's  tale  in  "The  Hunting  of  the  Snark,"  I 
shall  be  satisfied  with  leave  to  print  this  portion  and  pass  directly  • 
to  a  sketch  of  the  work. 

On  July  i,  1895,  in  obedience  to  the  act  the  present  Civil 
Service  Commission  of  Chicago  was  appointed,  consisting  of 
Mr.  John  M.  Clark,  Mr.  R.  A.  Waller  and  Mr.  Christopher 
Hotz.  These  gentlemen  were  all  successful  business  men  and 
evidently  qualified  for  the  service,  Mr.  John  M.  Clark,  presiding 
officer,  having  theretofore  served  irreproachably  and  with  signal 
ability  in  succession  as  an  alderman  of  the  city,  as  a  member  of 
the  School  Board  and,  from  1889  to  1893,  as  collector  of  cus- 
toms for  the  port  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Hotz  had  served  with  credit 
for  a  term  of  six  years  as  a  trustee  of  the  Chicago  Sanitary  Dis- 
trict and  Mr.  Waller  for  a  term  of  years  as  one  of  the  Board  of 
Commissioners  of  Lincoln  Park.  All  had  already  had  practical 
experience  in  responsible  administrative  offices.  As  collector  of 
customs  for  the  port  of  Chicago  Mr.  Clark  had  acquired  a  practical 
familiarity  with  the  workings  of  the  federal  civil  service  system, 
which  has  proved  of  great  value  in  the  difficult  work  of  organ- 
izing and  classifying  the  civil  service  of  the  city. 

In  describing  their  work  I  have  found  it  convenient  to  pre- 


MERRITT   STARR.  163 


sent  first  of  all  the  following  abstract  of  the  report  made  by  the 
Commission  themselves : 

The  first  work  of  the  Commission  (in  the  language  of  their 
annual  report  for  1895)  was  "the  classification  of  the  offices  and 
places  of  employment  and  the  formulation  of  rules  and  regula- 
tions to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  the  act."  In  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  work  it  was  very  greatly  assisted  (they,  the  com- 
missioners, say)  "  by  Mr.  John  T.  Doyle,  secretary  of  the  Na- 
tional Civil  Service  Commission,  who  visited  Chicago,  remain- 
ing about  five  weeks  with  the  Commission  upon  its  invitation 
and  at  its  personal  expense."  On  August  I4th  the  Commission 
promulgated  its  classification  of  the  offices  and  places  of  em- 
ployment and  rules  and  regulations ;  and  on  August  26th,  after 
ten  days'  notice,  pursuant  to  the  law,  the  classification  and  rules 
went  into  force  and  the  distribution  of  blank  applications  for  ad- 
mission to  the  classified  service  began,  more  than  two  thousand 
being  given  out  on  the  first  day.  The  classification  provided  for 
two  general  classes,  one  designated  "  official  service,"  and  in- 
cluding all  places  of  employment  in  the  city  service  not  ex- 
empted from  the  law,  excepting  the  labor  service,  and  constitut- 
ing, as  a  whole,  the  positions  which  are  permanent  in  character ; 
and  the  other,  designated  the  "  labor  service,"  including  all 
skilled  and  unskilled  workers,  and,  as  a  rule,  positions  which 
are  more  or  less  temporary.  In  the  period  of  four  months  and 
five  days,  expiring  December  31,  1895,  some  twenty  thousand 
five  hundred  application  blanks  had  been  dealt  out  to  applicants, 
fourteen  thousand  for  the  official  service  and  sixty-five  hundred 
for  the  labor  service.  Of  these,  twenty-two  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  correctly  made  applications  for  official  service  and  fifteen 
hundred  and  fifty-two  applications  for  positions  in  the  labor  ser- 
vice were  returned  and  filed  with  the  Commission.  Early  in 
September  a  general  board  of  examiners,  consisting  of  seven 
members,  was  appointed,  concerning  whom  it  may  be  said  that 
their  names  were  a  sufficient  guaranty  to  the  citizens  of  Chicago 
that  the  Civil  Service  Commission  intended  to  secure  the  best 
possible  enforcement  of  the  law.  They  were  Mr.  W.  K.  Acker- 


164  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 


man,  chairman,  late  comptroller  of  city  finances  and  comptroller 
of  accounts  for  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition ;  Mr.  Rollin 
A.  Keyes,  secretary ;  John  A.  Moody,  deputy  commissioner  of 
public  works;  Rabbi  Emil  G.  Hirsch,  of  the  public  library 
board ;  Captain  A.  F.  Campbell,  secretary  of  department  of 
police  ;  Marshall  Charles  S.  Petrie,  secretary  of  fire  department ; 
Henry  T.  Carr,  secretary  of  health  department.  "  In  conduct- 
ing physical  examinations  for  entrance  to  the  police  and  fire  de- 
partments, the  Commission  has  adopted  the  method  or  system 
originated  by  Dr.  A.  H.  Brown,  of  New  York.  This  system  has 
long  been  used  in  the  cities  of  Boston  and  New  York  and  other 
Eastern  cities.  It  has  given  most  excellent  results  in  practical 
operation.  At  the  request  of  the  Commission  Doctor  Brown 
came  to  Chicago  to  personally  superintend  the  first  physical  ex- 
amination of  candidates  for  entrance  to  the  police  and  fire  de- 
partments and  to  instruct  the  employees  of  the  Commission  in 
the  practical  operation  of  his  method,  which  he  allowed  to  be 
used  by  the  city  without  charge." 

"  The  rules  of  the  Commission  as  originally  published  con- 
tained a  provision  that  no  person  would  be  admitted  to  exami- 
nation for  a  position  in  the  official  service  who  was  more  than 
forty-five  years  of  age  at  the  date  of  the  examination.  It  was 
claimed  that  this  rule  practically  barred  from  the  service  many 
citizens  in  every  way  well  qualified  for  appointment,  including 
many  of  the  veterans  of  the  late  war.  To  avoid  even  a  semblance 
of  injustice  the  rules  were  changed  so  as  to  abolish  the  maximum 
limitation  as  to  age,  and  in  its  place  were  substituted  tests  of 
physical  qualifications  and  health,  as  required  by  law.  It  is 
interesting  to  note,  however,  that  of  the  twenty-two  hundred 
and  seventy-three  applications  for  employment  in  the  official 
service,  which  were  returned  to  the  Commission  in  the  first  four 
months,  only  about  five  per  cent,  were  over  forty-five  years 
of  age." 

The  report  of  the  Commission  shows  that  in  these  four 
months  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty-two  applications,'  in  due  form, 
were  filed  for  positions  in  the  labor  service.  Of  these  applicants 


MERRITT   STARR.  165 


four  hundred  and  eighteen  finally  reached  the  examination,  and 
of  these  three  hundred  and  seventy-seven  passed  the  examina- 
tions, making  about  ninety  per  cent,  who  passed  examinations. 
Out  of  these  three  hundred  and  seventy-seven  eligibles  eighty 
persons  have  been  appointed.  In  the  official  service  there 
were  twenty-two  hundred  and  seventy-three  properly  filled  out 
applications  and  thirty-one  examinations.  Of  these  applicants 
fourteen  hundred  and  ninety  completed  the  examinations,  and 
of  that  number  five  hundred  and  thirty-five  passed,  making 
about  thirty-six  per  cent.  Of  these  five  hundred  and  thirty-five 
eligibles  one  hundred  and  fourteen  have  been  appointed  to 
office. 

Of  these  five  hundred  and  thirty-five,  three  hundred  and 
sixty  had  enjoyed  only  common  school  advantages  in  educa- 
tion, one  hundred  and  forty  had  had  high  school  advantages 
and  thirty-five  were  college  graduates.  These  results  of  the 
examinations  destroyed  at  once  the  force  of  the  contention  so 
often  made,  that  the  civil  service  system  of  examinations  dis- 
criminates in  favor  of  the  college  graduate.  Another  fact  worthy 
of  note  is  that  of  this  five  hundred  and  thirty-five  four  hundred 
and  twelve  were  American  born  and  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  were  foreign  born.  This  meant  simply  that  the  foreign- 
born  residents  who  had  become  citizens  of  the  United  States 
and  had  resided  for  a  year  in  Chicago,  were  considered  by 
the  examiners  on  their  merits,  and  that,  tested  by  their  merits, 
twenty-three  per  cent,  of  the  successful  applicants  were  foreign 
born. 

The  Commission  has  pursued  a  commendable  policy 
of  openness  and  publicity  in  the  performance  of  its  duties. 
The  names  of  successful  applicants  have  been  posted  upon 
the  bulletin  boards  of  the  Commission  as  soon  as  they  were 
entered  upon  the  records  and  in  the  order  of  their  standing. 
Promotion  examinations  have  been  held  throughout  the  entire 
fire  department,  and  (say  the  Commission)  "  the  results  have 
been  such  as  to  commend  to  the  Commission  that  portion  of  the 
law  which  makes  promotion  in  the  classified  service,  as  well  as 


166  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

original  entrance  to  it,  depend  solely  upon  merit."  This  is  a 
cause  of  great  satisfaction.  It  has  frequently  been  said  that  even 
if  the  merit  system  of  examinations  was  desirable  for  original 
admission  to  the  civil  service,  yet  that  good,  practical  men  in 
charge  of  public  work  could  best  tell  whom  to  promote.  The 
experience  of  the  Chicago  Commission  agrees  with  that  of  dis- 
interested men  everywhere,  that  thorough,  systematic  examina- 
tions are  the  best  possible  methods  of  regulating  promotions  as 
well  as  admissions  to  the  service.  . 

The  application  blank  contains  nineteen  questions  which  he 
must  answer  in  his  own  handwriting  and  swear  to.  He  must 
further  obtain  vouchers  of  three  responsible  citizens  of  Chicago 
for  good  character  and  habits  and  one  from  a  competent  physi- 
cian as  to  health.  These  are  valuable  as  a  preliminary  sifting, 
but  only  as  a  preliminary.  The  chief  examiner  reports  that  "  an 
individual  with  one  leg  and  partial  paralysis  filed  an  application 
bearing  the  signature  of  an  authorized  medical  practitioner  testi- 
fying to  his  absolute  physical  and  medical  soundness." 

The  medical  examination,  which  is  believed  to  be  very  thor- 
ough, results  in  excluding  about  one-third  of  the  applicants  for 
police  and  fire  service.  The  physical  examination  as  to  meas- 
urements, development,  strength  and  agility  usually  eliminates 
about  twenty-five  per  cent.  more.  Fifty-nine  and  a  half  per 
•cent,  of  applicants  for  police  and  fire  departments  failed  to  pass 
the  medical  and  physical  tests.  The  practical  character  of  the 
examinations  is  insisted  on  in  every  instance.  For  example,  to 
quote  a  summary  of  the  chief  examiner,  an  applicant  for  a  posi- 
tion as  an  engineer  is  given  in  addition  to  the  educational  paper, 
a  series  of  questions  relating  to  the  practical  duties  of  the  posi- 
tion, these  papers  being  very  carefully  prepared  by  engineers  of 
high  standing.  The  same  principle  obtains  in  the  health  de- 
partment ;  men  who  apply  for  positions  as  meat,  milk,  smoke, 
tenement  or  medical  inspectors,  fumigators,  chemists  are  given 
supplemental  papers  prepared  by  experts  in  these  lines  of  work. 
The  man  who  wishes  to  be  a  driver  in  the  police  or  fire  depart- 
ment is  given  an  additional  paper  as  to  the  care  and  manage- 


MERRITT   STARR.  l6/ 


ment  of  horses.  In  the  former  department  he  is  given  a  prac- 
tical test  with  a  patrol  wagon  and  a  pair  of  spirited  horses. 
*  *  *  In  cases  where  any  special  knowledge  is  required  the 
^educational  examination  is  supplemented  by  special  questions 
that  are  marked  by  specialists  in  the  line  of  work  to  which  they 
appertain. 

The  Commission  in  their  report  disclaim  sufficient  expe- 
rience to  enable  them  to  suggest  any  defects  in  the  law,  and  say : 
41  The  Commission,  however,  would  respectfully  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that,  as  under  the  law,  all  future  promotions  must  be 
'  based  upon  ascertained  merit  and  seniority  in  the  service,'  some 
form  of  record  should  be  kept  in  each  department  in  justice  to 
the  employees  from  which  their  relative  merits  may  be  ascer- 
tained. Such  record  should  show,  so  far  as  practicable,  the  daily 
attendance,  punctuality,  accuracy,  ability  and  general  efficiency 
of  such  employee,  and  would  be  an  important  factor  in  his  ex- 
amination for  promotion. 

Among  the  most  important  questions  to  be  dealt  with  by 
the  commissioners  was  the  relation  of  the  law  and  the  system 
which  it  had  introduced  to  the  existing  force  of  employees  of 
the  city  at  that  time.  Upon  this  legal  question  the  Commission 
asked  and  received  the  official  opinion  of  the  corporation  counsel 
of  the  city,  in  which  he  held  that  persons  who  were  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  city  on  the  date  of  August  26,  1895,  when  the  civil 
service  law  became  applicable,  i.  e,,  when  the  places  of  employ- 
ment in  the  city  were  classified  and  the  classified  service  became 
established,  became  members  of  the  classified  service  by  the 
'Operation  of  law.  Speaking  of  this,  the  Commission  in  their 
annual  report  say :  "  This  decision  has  several  important  bear- 
ings on  the  persons  to  whom  it  applies.  First,  they  have  the 
exclusive  right  to  examination  for  all  promotions  in  their  respect- 
ive branches  of  service ;  second,  they  are  protected  from  polit- 
ical assessments,  as  the  law  makes  it  a  misdemeanor,  punishable 
by  imprisonment,  to  solicit  from  them,  either  orally  or  by  letter, 
any  assessment,  subscription  or  contribution  for  any  party  or 
political  purpose  whatever ;  third,  they  are  reasonably  secure  in 


1 68  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

their  positions  so  long  as  they  render  satisfactory  service.  Ex- 
perience under  the  national  civil  service  law  has  shown  that  the 
inability  of  an  appointing  officer  to  fill  a  vacancy  removes  the 
chief  temptation  to  make  one.  An  executive  officer,  responsi- 
ble for  the  administration  of  a  great  department,  will  hesitate 
long  before  removing  a  man  who  is  doing  good  service  when  he 
has  no  means  of  knowing  who  will  succeed  to  the  vacancy." 

On  a  recent  occasion  the  president  of  the  Commission  said : 
"  The  first  act  of  the  Commission  under  the  law  was  to  ask  from 
the  heads  of  each  department  a  list  of  all  the  officers  and  employees 
in  their  various  departments.  Under  the  order  of  the  mayor 
these  lists  were  promptly  furnished  us  by  the  heads  of  all  the 
departments  with  but  two  exceptions ;  those  exceptions  were 
the  departments  of  education  and  the  city  treasurer,  and  in  re- 
gard to  those  two  departments  legal  questions  were  involved 
which  have  not  yet  been  settled.  *  *  *  From  the  date  of 
the  appointment  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission  Mayor  Swift 
has  loyally  sustained  this  Commission.  *  *  *  The  comp- 
troller has  also  sustained  the  Commission  to  the  full  extent  of 
his  authority  and  power.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  Commission 
he  sent  a  letter  to  the  heads  of  all  departments  informing  them 
that,  as  the  law  had  gone  into  effect,  no  pay  rolls  would  be  re- 
ceived in  his  office  until  they  had  been  first  certified  by  the  Civil 
Service  Commission,  and  since  the  law  has  been  in  effect  not  a 
dollar  has  been  paid  in  the  city  of  Chicago  (for  service)  until  the 
Commission  has  passed  upon  the  pay  rolls  and  found  they  were 
in  accordance  with  the  civil  service  law." 

This  leads  to  a  consideration  of  the  results  of  the  few 
months'  enforcement  of  the  law.  It  is  too  early  to  expect 
great  and  striking  changes.  The  preliminary  work  has  neces- 
sarily been  slow.  A  "  clean  sweep  "  in  the  name  of  civil  service 
reform  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  reform  as 
well  as  very  difficult  to  accomplish.  That  in  the  first  two  months 
of  their  official  duty  the  Commission  should  succeed  in  classi- 
fying so  large  a  body  of  positions  in  the  public  service  (about 
fifteen  thousand  in  all)  was  unexpected.  That  they  should 


MERRITT    STARR.  169 


formulate  a  complete  set  of  rules  and  conduct  forty-seven  ex- 
aminations upon  thirty-eight  hundred  and  twenty- five  candi- 
dates who  actually  presented  themselves  for  examination ;  that 
they  should  pass  nine  hundred  and  forty-nine  of  them  and  ex- 
clude twenty-eight  hundred  and  seventy-six  of  them,  and  suc- 
ceed in  certifying  a  hundred  and  ninety-four  of  these  to  the  ap- 
pointing power,  and  so  succeed  in  setting  them  to  work  as  public 
servants  of  the  city  in  the  first  four  months  is  as  large  an  amount 
of  work  as  could  have  been  reasonably  expected  in  that  length 
of  time  from  any  body  of  commissioners. 

Between  January  I,  1896,  and  May  I,  1896,  thirty-four 
entrance  examinations  were  conducted.  Ten  of  these  occurred 
during  the  last  part  of  April  and  the  markings  thereon  are  not 
yet  complete.  At  the  other  twenty-four  examinations  four  hun- 
dred and  forty  candidates  were  examined  and  two  hundred  and 
forty-three  passed. 

That  the  system  of  competitive  examinations  for  promotion 
should  have  been  established  and  applied  to  the  entire  fire  de- 
partment during  the  first  half  year  is  a  step  in  advance  of  all 
former  precedents. 

The  policy  of  the  Commission  has  been  conservative,  and 
in  some  particulars  rather  more  cautious  than  the  aggressive 
friends  of  the  reform  might  have  preferred.  The  law  empowers 
the  Commission  to  conduct  trials  upon  charges  against  persons 
holding  positions  in  the  classified  service,  and  protects  such  per- 
sons against  removal,  except  for  cause,  shown  in  writing,  and 
proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Commission  after  a  hearing- 
thereon,  in  which  the  men  accused  are  entitled  to  be  heard  in 
their  own  defense;  and  the  cause  of  removal  is  required  to  be 
recorded  in  a  public  record.  Many  friends  of  the  law  believe 
that  it  authorizes  the  Commission  to  investigate  the  entire  classi- 
fied service,  and  wherever  complaint  is  developed  by  such  in- 
vestigation proceed  to  try  the  same.  The  Commission  have 
deemed  it  wise  to  refrain  from  such  an  aggressive  policy,  and  to 
devote  themselves  to  perfecting  the  working  of  the  system  of 
examinations  and  appointments,  leaving  the  matter  of  com- 


i/o  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

plaints  to  be  developed  by  the  administrative  authorities ;  but, 
of  course,  to  hear  and  decide  impartially  all  complaints  when 
presented  to  them  by  the  administrative  authorities  as  an  intro- 
ductory policy  this  has  doubtless  been  expedient.  The  extent  to 
which  it  will  be  wise  to  pursue  it  must  be  left  to  the  future  to 
determine. 

The  remarks  quoted  from  the  president  of  the  Commission 
show  that  the  abolition  of  the  evil  of  stuffed  pay  rolls  was 
the  direct  effect  of  the  civil  service  law.  No  man  can  receive 
any  money  for  services  rendered  the  city  and  no  officer  of  the 
city  can  pay  out  any  money  as  wages  or  salary  to  an  employee 
of  the  city  unless  that  employee  holds  his  place  in  compliance 
with  the  law  and  is  certified  to  so  hold  his  place  by  any  commis- 
sion. 

In  years  past  misconduct  of  the  police  on  election  day  has 
been  the  subject  of  common  complaint.  One  important  munic- 
ipal election  has  been  held  in  the  city  since  the  Commission 
began  work,  that  for  aldermen  on  April  7,  1896.  Competent  ob- 
servers state  that  the  police  did  their  duty  on  that  occasion  far 
more  effectually  and  with  much  less  grounds  for  complaint,  and 
caused  much  less  complaint  in  fact,  than  has  occurred  at  any 
election  in  the  city  for  ten  years  past.  It  is  not  difficult  to  say 
why.  There  was  no  reasonable  likelihood  of  their  official  posi- 
tions being  interfered  with  either  by  present  officeholders  or  by 
the  aldermen  elect,  and  hence  the  ordinary  motives  for  using 
their  influence  or  positions  for  or  against  any  candidate  or  for 
any  other  misconduct  were  lacking ;  and  the  motive  for  good 
conduct  and  avoiding  complaint  to  the  Commission  was  de- 
cidedly present. 

Incidentally,  it  may  be  noted  that  thirty-four  aldermen 
were  to  be  elected  at  that  election,  and  that  twenty-one  of  the 
thirty-four  who  were  elected  were  the  candidates  indorsed,  and, 
in  some  instances,  originally  nominated,  by  the  Municipal  Vot- 
ers' League>  an  organization  which  had  only  come  into  exist- 
ence one  month  before.  The  League  did  not  do  it  all ;  the  civil 
service  law  did  not  do  it  all ;  but  these  two  factors  together  were 


MERRITT   STARR. 


of  more  importance  than  any  other  factor  in  that  municipal  elec- 
tion; and  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  a  chief  reason  why  the 
Municipal  Voters'  League  succeeded  in  that  campaign,  when 
other  similar  movements  had  failed  in  the  past,  was  that  the 
civil  service  law  went  far  to  secure  a  fair  field  in  which'  such  a 
trial  could  be  made. 

The  outlook  for  the  future  gives  reasons  both  for  anxiety 
and  for  hope.  The  enemies  of  the  law  have  made  no  secret  of 
their  dislike  for  it  and  their  intention  to  cripple  its  efficiency  in 
the  execution,  and,  if  possible,  to  secure  its  repeal.  The  friends 
of  municipal  reform  are  apt  to  be  weary,  or  to  be  absorbed  in 
business,  or  to  be  silenced  by  the  din  of  a  presidential  campaign, 
and  there  is  danger  that  a  reactionary  legislature  will  be  elected 
to  repeal  it. 

The  interest  of  the  enemies  of  the  law  stands  in  contrast  to 
those  of  the  good  citizens  who  secured  the  passage  of  the  law 
and  favor  its  retention  in  the  well-known  proportion  of  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  to  one.  The  politician  is  interested  every 
day  in  the  year ;  the  good  citizen  on  election  day ;  and  yet  the 
public  opinion  which  crystallized  in  a  majority  of  fifty  thousand 
votes  in  favor  of  the  law  at  the  referendum  in  April,  1895,  is  too 
strong  for  any  politician  to  openly  defy.  The  chief  task  before 
the  friends  of  reform  is  to  maintain  the  public  opinion  already 
established.  This  can  be  done  by  the  vigorous  presentation  of 
the  valuable  results  of  the  law  and  a  familiarizing  the  public 
with  the  positive  benefits  which  have  flowed  from  it. 

Another  danger  exists  in  the  fact  that  mistaken  notions  of 
the  scope  and  extent  of  the  reform  have  been  entertained  by 
well-meaning  people  who  have  not  been  accurately  informed. 
The  civil  service  law  does  not  profess  to  deal  with  the  barter 
and  sale  of  franchises  by  aldermen ;  it  does  not  profess  to  deal 
with  iniquities  in  the  system  of  special  assessment  for  improve- 
ments; it  does  not  profess  to  reform  the  revenue  system  of 
either  the  city  or  the  State ;  it  does  not  deal  with  the  jury 
briber,  the  ballot-box  stuffer,  the  falsifier  of  election  returns,  the 
corrupt  practices  at  elections,  nor  with  the  evils  of  gambling  nor 


172  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

with  the  curbstone  confidence  men,  who  are  supposed  by  our 
rural  friends  to  constitute  so  large  a  portion  of  the  city  popula- 
tion. Indirectly  it  may  be  said  that  the  civil  service  system 
tends  to  lessen  every  one  of  these  evils  by  leading  to  greater 
efficiency  on  the  part  of  the  public  servants,  and  by  reducing 
the  opportunities  of  corrupt  men  to  acquire  power  and  perpet- 
uate themselves  in  power ;  but  the  specific  purpose  of  the  law 
must  be  kept  clearly  in  mind.  That  purpose  is  to  secure  the 
best  public  service,  and  as  means  to  that  end  to  make  the  fitness 
of  the  servant  the  basis  of  his  appointment  and  warrant  for  hold- 
ing and  retaining  office,  and  to  take  the  subordinate  positions  in 
the  public  service  out  of  politics. 

Disappointed  well-wishers,  who  have  mistakenly  expected 
immediate  and  complete  transformation  of  public  service,  public 
order  and  politics  to  follow  the  adoption  of  the  law  are  apt  to 
give  expression  to  their  disappointment ;  and  these  expressions 
may  be  seized  on  as  acknowledgments  of  the  total  failure  of 
the  law. 

The  methods  which  were  used  to  promote  the  passage  of 
the  law  are  the  most  instructive  feature  of  the  whole  movement. 
A  large  number  of  reforms  was  presented  to  the  legislature  of 
1 895  by  different  bodies  of  public-spirited  citizens ;  the  civil 
service  law  was  the  only  one  which  succeeded.  The  reason  for 
its  success,  in  contrast  with  the  failures  of  the  other  attempts,  is 
easily  found.  First  of  all,  it  had  been  presented  five  times  before. 
Ten  years  of  education  had  led  up  to  the  victory.  But  to  return 
to  the  methods  used.  At  the  instance  of  several  organizations 
interested  in  securing  its  passage,  the  president  of  the  Union 
League  Club  of  Chicago  called  a  conference  of  delegates  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  clubs  and  political  organizations  of  the  city. 
The  delegates  from  these  one  hundred  and  twenty  clubs  resolved 
at  that  meeting  to  devote  the  entire  influence  of  all  the  organ- 
izations to  this  one  reform  until  it  should  be  adopted.  The  uni- 
fying of  the  efforts  of  the  many  bodies  upon  the  one  measure 
was  the  secret  of  success ;  it  was  well  compared  to  the  action  of 
the  members  of  the  National  Convention  of  France  in  1789, 


MERRITT    STARR.  1 73 


who  resolved  that  they  would  never  adjourn  until  they  had 
given  a  constitution  to  their  country. 

If  I  may  make  a  suggestion  to  the  friends  of  municipal  re- 
form who  are  gathered  and  represented  here  it  would  be  that  an 
agreement  be  reached  upon  a  municipal  programme  in  which 
should  be  determined  the  order  in  which  the  several  questions 
of  reform  should  be  taken  up  and  carried  to  accomplishment, 
and  that  the  friends  of  all  the  reforms  should  sink  personal  pref- 
erences for  particular  measures  and  unite  in  laboring  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  reforms  embodied  in  the  programme  in 
the  order  in  which  they  shall  there  be  presented. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  same  programme  in  the  same 
order  should  necessarily  be  taken  for  every  city  nor  every  State, 
but  that  this  League  should  recommend  the  adoption  of  such  a 
programme  in  each  city  and  in  each  State  by  all  the  workers 
thereof,  and  that  the  work  of  the  reformers  be  united  upon  the 
measures  presented  in  the  programme. 

ADDENDUM. 

ABSTRACT  OF  ILLINOIS  LAW  REGULATING  CIVIL  SERVICE 
OF  CITIES. 

The  act  provides  (Section  i)  that  the  mayor  of  each  city, 
which  shall  adopt  the  act,  shall  appoint  three  civil  service  com- 
missioners, who  shall  hold  each  for  terms  of  three  years,  one 
retiring  each  year,  ajid  that  they  shall  hold  no  other  lucrative 
federal,  State,  local  or  municipal  office. 

Section  2  authorizes  the  mayor,  in  discretion,  to  remove  for 
incompetence,  neglect  of  duty  or  malfeasance,  and  requires  him 
to  report  his  reasons  in  writing  for  such  removal  to  the  City 
Council  within  ten  days  thereafter. 

SECTION  3.  The  commissioners  shall  classify  all  (with  cer- 
tain exceptions  reasonable  in  themselves)  offices  and  places  of 
employment  in  the  city  with  reference  to  examinations  for  the 
filling  thereof,  and  no  appointments  to  any  such  classified  offices 
or  places  shall  be  made,  except  in  accordance  with  the  rules  to 
be  made  by  the  Commission. 


174  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

SECTIONS  4  and  5.  The  Commission  are  to  make  a  public 
report,  and  from  time  to  time  amend  rules  for  examinations, 
appointments,  removals  in  and  from  the  classified  service,  and 
to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  the  act. 

SECTION  6  provides  the  customary  civil  service  section  as  to 
examinations  for  admission  to  the  classified  service.  It  ex- 
pressly makes  the  examinations  free  to  all  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  and  excludes  unnaturalized  aliens  thereby. 

Section  7  provides  for  notice  of  the  examinations. 

Section  8  for  the  register  or  list  of  eligible  candidates  who 
have  passed  the  examinations,  and  provides  that  they  take  rank 
thereon  according  to  their  relative  excellence  in  the  examina- 
tions, without  reference  to  the  time  of  examination. 

Section  9  provides  that  promotions  shall  be  regulated  by  rules 
providing  therefor  on  the  basis  of  ascertained  merit  and  seniority 
in  service,  the  merits  to  be  tested  by  examination,  and  that  such 
examinations  for  promotion  shall  be  competitive  among  all  such 
members  of  the  lower  rank  as  desire  to  submit  themselves  to 
examination  therefor.  In  case  of  promotions  the  Commission 
honor  a  requisition  for  appointment  by  the  three  highest  names. 

SECTION  10.  In  case  of  original  appointments  the  highest 
name,  and  only  the  highest  name,  is  certified  for  each  place,  men- 
tioned in  the  requisition. 

Section  11  excepts  from  the  classified  service  officers 
elected  by  the  people  or  the  Council,  pursuant  to  city  charter, 
or  whose  appointment  is  subject  to  confirmation  by  the  Council, 
judges  and  clerks  of  election,  members  of  the  board  of  educa- 
tion, superintendent  and  teachers  of  schools,  heads  of  principal 
departments,  members  of  the  law  department  and  one  private 
secretary  for  the  mayor. 

Section  12  provides  for  removals  only  on  written  charges 
and  opportunity  to  the  public  servant  to  be  heard  in  his  own  de- 
fense, but  saves  the  power  of  suspension,  not  exceeding  thirty 
days. 

Section  14  provides  for  investigations  by  the  Commission 
of  the  enforcement  of  the  act,  and  of  their  rules  and  of  the  action 


MERRITT    STARR.  175 


of  examiners,  and  gives  them  power  to  administer  oaths  and 
subpoena  witnesses  and  compel  production  of  books  and  papers 
(which  subpoenas  Section  33  requires  shall  be  obeyed  by  all 
persons  on  whom  they  may  be  served). 

Section  15  provides  for  an  annual  report  by  the  Commis- 
sion. 

SECTION  16.  For  the  office  of  chief  examiner  and  ex-officio 
secretary  of  the  Commission  to  be  appointed  by  the  Commis- 
sion. 

SECTION  17.  Municipal  officers  are  required  to  aid  in  en- 
forcing the  act  and  to  afford  the  Commission  reasonable  use  of 
public  buildings  for  offices,  examinations,  etc. 

SECTION  18.  Salaries  and  expenses  are  provided  for  by. a 
graded  list  for  different  cities  according  to  their  population. 

Section  19  prescribes  certain  rules  as  to  appropriations 
and  requires  the  mayor  to  pay  salaries  and  expenses  for  each  fis- 
cal year  out  of  the  moneys  appropriated  for  contingent  purposes 
by  the  municipality  or  any  other  moneys  not  otherwise  appro- 
priated. 

Sections  20  to  28  prohibit  various  frauds  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  law ;  also  prohibit  political  assessments  on  employees 
or  officers,  their  solicitation  or  reception  by  officers  or  any  public 
offices ;  also  prohibit  abuse  of  official  influence,  payment  for 
places,  recommendations,  instruction  of  political  service  and  im- 
proper use  of  political  position  or  influence  in  a  variety  of  ways. 

Section  29  forbids  that  any  claim  for  service  in  violation  of 
the  act  shall  be  allowed  by  any  accounting  or  auditing  officer. 

Section  30  requires  the  Commission  to  certify  appointments 
and  removals  to  the  comptroller;  and  Sections  31  and  32  forbid 
paymasters  and  comptrollers  to  pay  any  salary  or  wages  to  any 
person  unless  he  is  occupying  office  and  entitled  to  pay  therefor 
in  accordance  with  the  act. 

Sections  34  to  36  provide  for  penalties  and  prosecutions, 
37  repeals  conflicting  laws,  38  and  39  provide  for  a  referendum 
to  the  voters  of  any  city  for  adoption,  which  is  made  compul- 


176  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

sory  upon  a  petition  of  one  thousand  voters,  or,  in  the  case  of 
smaller  cities,  one-eighth  of  the  voters. 

Section  40  recites  an  emergency  and  provides  for  the  imme- 
diate taking  effect  of  the  act. 

CHICAGO  CIVIL  SERVICE  COMMISSION. 
ABSTRACT  OF  RULES. 
Rule  I. — Classification. 

1.  Unclassified  service.  Recites  Section  11  of  the  act  and 
places  omitted  from  the  classification,  and  constitutes  the  same 
unclassified  service. 

2  and  3.  Classified  service.  All  other  places  constitute 
same.  Two  general  classes  made :  Class  A,  of  a  permanent 
character  and  known  as  "official  service;"  Class  B,  of  tempo- 
rary employments  known  as  "  labor  service." 

4.  Divides  official  service,  Class  A,  into  twelve  divisions, 
based  on  the  nature  of  the  service,  as  consisting  of: 

a.  Medical  service.  g.  Mechanical  engineers. 

b.  Civil  engineering.  h.  Bridge  service. 

c.  Clerical  service.  /.  Inspection  service. 

d.  Police  service.  j.  Janitor  and  elevator  service. 

e.  Electrical  service.  k.  Library  service. 

f.  Fire  service.  /.  Miscellaneous  service. 

Each  division  is  divided  into  grades,  based  on  compensa- 
tion, grade  I  having  compensation  at  less  than  £800  per  annum. 

Grade  2 $800  to  (less  than)  $1000. 

"       3 icoo  "  1 200. 

"      4 1200  "  1400. 

44       5 1400  "          4<  1600. 

"      6 1600  "          "  1800. 

"      7 1800  4<         "  2100. 

M      8 2100  "         "  2500. 

4'      9 2500  "  3000. 

"     IO 3000  and  over. 


MERRITT    STARR.  177 


5.  The  existing  systems  of  rank  and  official  designation  in 
the  police  and  fire  departments  are  preserved,  and  examinations- 
for  promotion  based  on  those  systems  of  rank  are  authorized. 

Rule  II. — Class  A,  Official  Service. 

1.  Citizenship  and  residence  in  the  city  for  one  year  prior 
to  date  of  examination  are  required. 

2.  Candidates  must  be  twenty  years  of  age,  except  for 
positions  as  pages  and  messengers,  where  they  must  be  not  less 
than  seventeen. 

3.  Waiver  of  age  and  residence  in  special  examinations 
requiring  technical,  professional,  scientific  knowledge,  or  manual 
skill  of  a  high  order,  are  authorized. 

Rule  III. — Application. 

1.  Must  be  made  on  blanks  and  in  forms  provided  by  the 
Commission. 

2.  Good  moral  character,  temperate  habits,  sound  health 
and  physical  ability  required. 

3.  Moral  character  made  paramount  in  determining  right 
to  examination  of  applicant. 

4.  Burden  of  proving  good  moral  character  is  placed  upon 
the  applicant,  who  may  be  required  to  furnish  evidence  thereof 
additional  to  the  certificates  required. 

5.  Failure  to  prove  good  character  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  Commission  will  exclude  applicant  from  examination.    Proof 
of  bad  character  shall  be  cause  for  dismissal  from  examination, 
or  for  removal  from  a  register  of  eligibles  after  examination. 

6.  False  statements  knowingly  made  by  applicants    are 
ground  for  exclusion  from  examination,  or  from  register  of  eli- 
gibles, or  for  removal  during  approbation  or  from  service,  but 
the  right  of  the  applicant  to  be  heard  in  defense  is  secured  from 
the  time  when  he  is  placed  upon  the  list  of  eligibles. 

7.  Defective  applications  will  be  returned  with  opportunity 
for  amendment,  but  not  more  than  two  opportunities  for  amend- 
ment will  be  afforded. 


178  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

8.  With  the  exception  noted  in  Section  7,  applications  and 
certificates  accompanying   same   will  be  kept   on  file  and  not 
returned  to  applicants. 

9.  The  number  of  applicants  to  be  examined  at  any  time 
may  be  limited,  in  which  case  applicants  will  be  admitted  to  ex- 
amination in  the  order  of  filing  proper  applications. 

Ride  IV. — Examinations. 

1.  Character  of  examination.     Impartial,  practical  in  char- 
acter and  having  paramount  regard  to  matters  which  will  fairly 
test  the  relative  capacity  and  fitness  of  the  person  examined  for 
the  service  which  they  seek  to  enter. 

2.  Political  or  religious  opinions  not  to  influence  appoint- 
ments. 

3.  Place  and  time  of  examinations  shall  be  advertised  by 
two  weeks'  notice  (this  is  done  by  posting  on  the  bulletin  board 
and  advertising  daily  in  the  official  newspaper  designated  by  the 
Council  for  advertising  purposes). 

4.  Subjects  of  examination  shall   be  designated   by  the 
Commission,  such  as  the  needs  of  the  service  require  and  as  tend 
to  prove  qualifications  of  the  applicants,  and  may  include  special 
tests  of  fitness  for  particular  places  having  special  requirements, 
technical,  professional,  scientific  or  manual. 

5.  How   graded.      Proficiency   in   any   subject    shall    be 
graded   and   credited   to   the   applicant   in   proportion    to    the 
value  of  such  proficiency  in  the  service  which  the  applicant 
seeks  to  enter.     Similar  proportional  credit  for  physical  qualifi- 
cations and  health  required.     Relative  weight  of  each  subject 
shall  be  fixed  by  the  Commission  for  every  examination. 

6.  Applicant  must  obtain  seventy  per  cent,  to  be  placed 
on  register  of  eligibles. 

7.  Physical  examinations,  to  determine  physical  qualifica- 
tions and  health,  to  be  conducted  by  physicians  in  the  service 
of  the  city  or  specially  appointed  by  Commission. 

8.  All  questions  for  examinations  must  be  first  approved 
by  the  Commission.     The  conduct  of  examinations  and  mark- 
ings of  the  papers  shall  be  under  their  supervision. 


MERRITT   STARR.  179 


9.  A  general  board  of  examiners,  consisting  of  three 
persons,  shall  prepare  and  mark  the  papers  for  entrance  exami- 
nations. Such  board  shall  be  composed  of  persons  in  the  public 
service  detailed  for  duty  at  the  office  of  the  Commission,  or  of 
such  other  persons  not  in  the  public  service  as  the  Commission 
may  from  time  to  time  designate.  They  shall  prepare  and  mark 
papers  as  the  Commission  shall  direct.  Special  boards  of  ex- 
aminers and  auxiliary  members  of  the  general  board  are  au- 
thorized in  preparing  questions  and  marking  candidates  in  tech- 
nical subjects.  Members  of  each  of  the  boards  shall  not  all  be 
of  the  same  political  party.  The  Commission  will  designate  the 
chairman  and  secretary  of  each  board,  and  make  such  changes 
in  membership  from  time  to  time  as  it  may  deem  proper.  Each 
board  shall  make  such  records  and  reports  as  the  Commission 
may  require,  and  which  shall  be  open  to  the  inspection  of  any 
commissioner  and  of  chief  examiner. 

10.  Each  applicant  shall  be  notified  of  the  average  he  has 
attained  on  the  examination. 

11.  No  re-examination  of  a  person  who  has  failed  to  pass 
allowed  within  six  months.     Applicants  who  pass  are  enrolled 
on  a  register  of  eligibles  and  shall  not  be  again  examined  for 
one  year,  and  then  only  upon  the  drawing  of  his  name  from  the 
eligible  list  and  filing  new  application. 

Rule  V, — Register  of  Eligibles. 

1.  All  competitors  who  attain  a  general  average  of  seventy 
per  cent,  shall  be  eligible  for  appointment  to  the  place  for  which 
they  are  examined,  and  shall  be  enrolled  in  the  order  of  general 
average  upon  proper  register  of  eligibles. 

2.  Priority  and  date  of  examination  shall  give  no  advan- 
tage in  position  upon  the  register. 

3.  Names   shall   remain   on    registers   two   years    unless 
sooner  removed,  according  to  the  rules  or  by  appointment. 

At  the  expiration  of  one  year  the  eligibles  shall  furnish, 
upon  a  form  prescribed  by  the  Commission,  new  certificates  of 
character.  (Requires  applicant  to  maintain  a  good  character 


i8o  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

from  the  time  he  gets  upon  the  list.  Cannot  lapse  from  good 
character  and  hold  his  place  on  the  strength  of  former  certifi- 
cate of  character). 

4.     Candidate  on  eligible  list  may  accept  temporary  em- 
ployment in  labor  service  without  losing  place  on  register. 

Rule  VI. — Requisition  and  Certification. 

1.  Requisition.     Vacancy  in  official  service,  unless  it  is  to 
be  filled  by  promotion,  shall  be  filled  by  the  appointing  officer 
making  requisition  upon  a  form  prescribed  by  the  Commission 
for  the  certification  to  him  of  an  eligible.     The  Commission 
shall  certify  to  him  the  name  of  the  person  standing  highest  on 
the  appropriate  register  of  eligibles,  and  that  person  shall  be 
appointed. 

2.  Sex.     Where  requisition,  statute  or  ordinance  specifies 
sex,  those  of  the  sex  specified  shall  be  certified ;  otherwise  sex 
disregarded. 

3.  Waiver  of  certification ;  declining  of  appointment.    Eli- 
gible whose  name  is  reached  for  appointment  may  waive  certifi- 
cation or  decline  appointment  tendered  on  giving  reasons  satis- 
factory to  Commission  without  losing  place  on  register. 

Rule  VII. — Appointment. 

1.  Recites  law  that  no  person  shall  be  appointed  in  the 
official  service  except  according  to  these  rules. 

2.  Temporary  appointment.     Where  there  is  no  eligible 
on  the  appropriate  register  and  the  Commission  is  unable  to 
comply  with  the  requisition,  it  may,  in  its  discretion,  to  prevent 
stoppage  of  business  or  meet  extraordinary  exigency,  allow  a 
temporary  appointment  for  not  exceeding  sixty  days,  and  only 
until  a  regular  appointment  can  be  made  through  an  exami- 
nation. 

3.  Vacancies  not  filled  by  promotion  shall  be  filled  by  req- 
uisition and  certification  under  Rule  VII.     Such  appointment 
shall  be  on  probation  for  six  months,  at  end  of  which,  if  con- 


MERRITT    STARR.  l8l 


duct  and  capacity  of  appointee  have  been  satisfactory,  his  ap- 
pointment shall  become  complete. 

4.  Incompetent  probationers  may  be  dropped  by  the  ap- 
pointing officer  certifying  the  incompetency  to  the  Commission, 
and  by  the  approval  of  the  Commission. 

5.  All  persons  appointed  to  or  promoted  in  the  official  ser- 
vice shall  be  assigned  to  and  perform  the  duties  of  the  place  to 
which  appointed  or  promoted. 

Rule   VIII. — Promotions. 

1.  Promotions,  except  as  otherwise  provided  for,  shall  be 
from  grade  to  grade,  and  shall  be  upon  voluntary,  open,  com- 
petitive examination  limited   to   employees   in  the  next  lower 
grade  of  the  department  unless  the  Commission  deem  it  for  the 
interest  of  the  service  to  admit  to  competition  employees  in  the 
same  grade  and  division  in  other  departments.     (For  example,  a 
man  might  be  performing  service  in  grade  three  of  the  electri- 
cal service.     A  vacancy  might  arise  in  grade  four  of  division  G 
mechanical  engineers.     It  might  in  a  given  case  be  expedient  to 
throw  open  the  competition  for  promotion  from  grade  three  to 
grade  four  in  the  mechanical  engineers  to  persons  in  grade  three 
or  grade  four  ot  the  electrical  service,  and  vice  versa,  but  in  the 
absence  of  a  special  order  to  that  effect  the  competition  for  pro- 
motion in  the  mechanical  engineers  to  grade  four  would  be 
limited  to  occupants  of  places  in  grade  three  of  the  mechanical 
engineers.) 

The  Commission  shall  decide  in  each  case  whether  it  is 
practicable  to  fill  the  place  by  an  examination  for  promotion  or 
by  an  examination  for  original  entrance. 

2.  In  each  principal  department  of  the  city  service  a  board 
of  promotion  of  three  persons  (not  of  the  same  political  party) 
shall  be  designated  by  the  Commission  upon  consultation  with 
the  head  of  that  department.     The  Commission  shall  designate 
one  of  the  board  chairman  and  another  secretary,  and  may  from 
time  to  time  change  its  membership. 

3.  Such  boards  of  promotion,  under   the  supervision  of 


182  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

the  chief  examiner  and  by  direction  of  the  commissioners,  shall 
assist  in  preparing  and  marking  papers  for  promotion  exami- 
nations. 

4.  Regular  examinations  for  promotion  in  all  offices  shall 
be  held  annually,  commencing  on  the  second  Monday  in  Janu- 
uary  in  each  year.     (Is  well  calculated  to  encourage  stability  in 
the  service ;  it  assures  every  person  in  city  employ  that  at  least 
once  a  year  he  will  have  a  chance  to  be  examined  for  promotion 
and  show  his  fitness  for  an  advanced  position  and  salary.)     Ap- 
plicants for  promotion  are  required  to  record  their  application  at 
least  twenty  days  before  the  date  fixed.     Special  examinations 
for  promotion  may  be  held  when  the  Commission  deem  neces- 
sary, but  shall  be  upon  due  notice. 

5.  No  promotion  from  any  grade  of  any  person  shall  be 
made  until  he  has  served  at  least  six  months  in  such  grade. 

6.  Character  of  examinations.     Practical  and  to  test  the 
capacity  of  the  applicant  for  the  particular  place.     Shall  cover 
physical  qualifications,  health  and  manual  skill,  and  special  ex- 
aminations in  technical  matters  for  promotion  may  be  made. 

7.  Length  of  service,  the  physical   qualifications,  health, 
general  efficiency  shown  by  past  service,   shall  be  given  due 
weight  in  examination  for  promotion.     Records  of  punctuality, 
ability,  habits  and  aptitude.     Credit  of  five  points  for  each  year 
of  continuous  service  will  be  given  in  determining  seniority. 

8.  No  competitor  who  fails  to  secure  seventy  per  cent,  at 
promotion  examination  shall  be  eligible  for  promotion. 

9.  Register  of  persons  eligible  for  promotion  shall  be  kept 
by  the  Commission. 

10.  Certification  of  eligibles  for  promotion  shall  be  made 
by  the  Commission  upon  requisition  of  an  appointing  officer  in 
groups  of  three  in  the  order  of  standing.     Each  eligible  shall  be 
entitled  to  three  certifications,  and  the  appointing  officer  must 
choose,  at  least,  one  name  from  each  certification. 

11.  Priority  of  Certification.     In  certifying  from  the  regis- 
ters for  promotion,  when  two  or  more  eligibles  have  the  same 


MERRITT   STARR.  183 


general  average,  preference  in  certification  shall  be  given  in  the 
order  of  seniority  of  service. 

12.  Change  of  compensation  of  any  position  in  the  service, 
whereby  the  grade  of  the  person  as  established  by  the  classifi- 
cation is  changed  (whether  done  by  ordinance  or  otherwise), 
shall  not  affect  the  tenor  of  the  incumbent,  unless,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  Commission,  such  change  shall  involve  a  change  in  duties 
requiring  a  different  examination. 

Rule  IX. — Removal. 

1.  Recites  that  removals  from  the  official  service  shall  be 
only  in  accordance  with  Section  12,  of  the  statute. 

2.  Removal  shall  be  for  cause  only,  upon  written  charges, 
and  after  an  opportunity  to  the  respondent  to  be  heard  in  his 
own  defense. 

3.  When  removal  is  deemed  necessary  the  appointing  offi- 
cer shall  notify  the  Commission  in  writing  of  the  ground  there- 
for.    Such  grounds  shall  be  investigated  by  the  Commission, 
and  the   accused  shall  be  given  an  opportunity  to  be  heard 
thereon.     The  finding  and  decision  of  the  Commission  shall  be 
certified  to  the  appointing  officer  and  forthwith  enforced  by  him. 
Pending  the  investigation  the  appointing  officer  may  suspend 
the  accused  for  a  reasonable  period,  not  exceeding  thirty  days. 
Such  charges  shall  not  be  necessary  in  cases  of  laborers  or  cus- 
todians of  public  money  secured  by  bond. 

Rule  X. — Reports. 

i.  The  appointing  officers  shall  report  immediately  to  the 
Commission. 

a.  Every  probational  or  temporary  appointment. 

b.  Every  refusal  or  neglect  to  accept  an  appointment  by 
the  person  certified. 

c.  Every  change  in  compensation  of  any  person  in  his 
force. 

d.  Every  suspension. 


184  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

• 

e.  Every  separation  from  the  service  under  him  by  dis- 
missal, resignation  or  death. 

2.  Changes  or  abolitions  of  office  or  compensation  shall 
be  immediately  reported  in  writing  to  the  Commission  by  the 
officer  or  board  making  same. 

3.  Civil  list  of  the  city  of  Chicago  kept  in  office  of  the 
Commission  containing  the  name  of  every  person  employed  in 
or  receiving  compensation  from  the  city  in  the  classified  service. 
Same  shall  show  title  of  office,  compensation,  time  held,  length 
of  service  and  places  held,  description  of  duties  of  office,  by 
whom  appointment  was  made  and  duration  or  term  of  the  office. 

4.  Payment  of  salaries.     No  payment  for  service  rendered 
shall  be  made  by  the  city  or  any  of  its  officers  to  a  person  in 
the  classified  service,  unless  he  was  appointed  before  the  rules 
took  effect  or  was  appointed  under  the  same. 

Rule  XI. — Police  Department. 

All  original  appointments  shall  be  as  second-class  patrol- 
men. 

Applicant  for  a  position  must,  in  addition  to  other  require- 
ments, be  between  twenty-one  and  thirty-five  years  of  age,  not 
less  than  five  feet  eight  inches  in  bare  feet,  and  have  a  weight 
and  minimum  quiescent  chest  measurement  falling  within  the 
limits  prescribed  in  a  table  of  maximum  and  minimum  weights 
and  measurements  for  each  gradation  in  height. 

Rule  XII.— Fire  Department. 

All  original  appointments  to  the  uniformed  force  shall  be 
made  to  the  lowest  grade  in  the  several  branches,  and  advance- 
ment to  higher  grade  shall  be  by  promotion  under  the  rules. 

An  age  limit  of  twenty-one  to  thirty-three  years  and  a  min- 
imum height  of  five  feet  seven  inches  in  bare  feet  are  prescribed, 
and  a  tabular  schedule  of  minimum  a.nd  maximum  weights  and 
of  minimum  chest  measurements  are  also  prescribed. 

Former  members  of  the  force  separated  therefrom  without 
their  fault  may  deduct  from  their  actual  age  any  time  not  ex- 


MERRITT   STARR.  1 8$ 


ceeding  five  years,  during  which  they  have  continuously  served 
in  the  department. 

Rule  XI I L — Class  B,  Labor  Service. 

Extent  of  labor  service.  It  includes  all  places  of  employ- 
ment within  the  scope  of  the  act  not  included  in  the  classified  or 
the  official  service. 

Rule  XIV. — Citizenship,  Residence  Qualifications  and  Age. 

1.  Citizenship  of  the  United  States  and  residence  for  one 
year  in  Chicago,  next  preceding  the  date  of  the  examination, 
are  required.     Mechanics  must  have  served  not  less  than  four 
years  as  journeymen  at  their  respective  trades. 

2.  Twenty  years  is  fixed  as  a  minimum  age  for  labor  ser- 
vice, excepting  for  minor  places,  errand  boys,  water  carriers, 
etc.,  where  fifteen  years  is  the  minimum. 

Rule  XV. 
Form  of  application  is  limited  as  in  Rule  III. 

Rule  XVI. — Examinations. 

I.  On  return  of  application  blank,  properly  filled  out  and 
signed  with  required  certificates  as  to  habits  of  industry  and 
sobriety,  the  Commission  number  the  applicant  in  the  order  of 
its  receipt  and  notify  him  of  time  and  place  for  examination  for 
entry  on  eligible  list.  At  such  examination  the  examiners  shall 
inquire  regarding  the  age,  residence,  citizenship,  character,  phy- 
sical condition,  family,  previous  occupation  and  experiences  of 
the  applicant,  ascertain  his  qualifications  for  the  employment 
sought,  and  endorse  a  statement  of  their  determination  thereon 
and  the  reason  for  it  on  his  application,  with  a  brief  personal  de- 
scription of  the  applicant.  Note  will  be  made  of  superior 
physical  qualifications. 

Applicants  shall  be  graded,  first,  on  physical  qualifications ; 
second,  upon  their  own  account  of  themselves,  occupation  and 


1 86  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

experience ;  third,  upon  their  knowledge  of  the  requirements  of 
the  work,  necessary  tools,  manner  of  doing  work,  etc. 

Foremen  shall  also  be  examined  upon  the  number  of  men 
who  can  be  worked  together,  upon  simple  arithmetic  and  writ- 
ing, to  show  general  intelligence  sufficient  to  make  written 
reports. 

No  additional  test  shall  be  required  for  common  laborers. 

False  statements  by  applicant  to  disqualify. 

2.  For  service  other  than  common  labor  applicant  will  be 
required  to  produce  a  certificate  from  a  competent  person  in  the 
same  trade  or  occupation  of  his  ability  to  do  the  special  work 
he  seeks. 

Rule  XVI I, — Registration  of  Laborers. 

1.  Registers  shall  be  kept  in  the  office  of  the  Commission 
for  each  trade  and  the  different  branches  of  labor  in  the  city 
service. 

2.  Order  of  registration  shall  be  in  the  order  of  rating,  but 
fixed  by  the  examiners.    No  person  shall  be  enrolled  upon  more 
than  two  registers  without  consent  of  commissioners. 

3.  Commission  may  district  the  city  and  make  separate 
registers  of  laborers  residing  in  each  district,  and  change  the 
same,  from  time  to  time,  and  consolidate  two  or  more  registers 
into  one. 

4.  No  re-employment  after  removal  for  disqualifying  cause 
until  after  six  months,  and  the  furnishing  of  satisfactory  evidence 
that  the  disqualification  does  not  exist. 

5.  Proper  regulations  to  identify  registered  applicants,  and 
preserve  record  of  their  conduct  provided  for. 

Rule  XVIII. — Requisition  and  Certification. 

i.  Similar  to  Rule  VI,  but  the  appointing  officer  is  re- 
quired to  notify  the  Commission,  stating  the  number  of  men 
needed,  the  particular  kind  of  labor  required  and  the  time  and 
place  where  needed.  The  Commission  thereupon  certify  the 
appointing  officers  the  names  and  residences  of  the  number  of 


MERRITT   STARR.  l8/ 


men  called  for.  Those  on  the  register  of  the  division  covering 
the  particular  kind  of  labor  called  for  given  the  preference  in 
the  order  of  their  rating,  who,  within  one  year  next  preceding, 
have  satisfactorily  served  the  department  from  which  the  requi- 
sition is  made.  If  there  are  no  such  persons,  then  the  certifica- 
tion shall  be  in  the  order  of  general  average,  but  regard  may  be 
had  to  a  request  by  an  appointing  officer  for  preference  to  be 
given  on  account  of  age,  physical  qualification  or  residence  in 
the  district  where  the  work  is  to  be  done. 

2.  Waiver  of  employment  as  in  Rule  VI. 

3.  Employment  of  laborers.     On  being  laid  off  from  ser- 
vice in  any  department,  an  eligible  desiring  further  employment 
will  return  to  the  office  of  the  Commission  with  a  card  from  the 
employing  officer  stating  the  date  and  reason  for  being  laid  off 
and  whether  service  has  been  satisfactory.    Names  of  those  who 
are  so  returned  as  satisfactory  are  to  be  retained  on  register  of 
eligibles. 

4.  Emergency  employment  authorized  without  requisition 
for  not  exceeding  sixty  days,  and  only  until  regular  employment 
can  be  made  under  the  rule.     No  employment  of  the  same  per- 
son, or  of  another,  to  the  same  position  at  the  end  of  such  period 
shall  be  allowed  under  this  rule.     (This  prevents  anything  like 
the  systematic  retention  of  a  man  in  the  employment  in  viola- 
tion of  the  rules.     He  cannot  be  put  on  as  an  emergency  man 
and  then  kept  in  the  same  place,  and  neither  can  a  place  be  kept 
open  and  first  one  man  and  then  another  man  be  put  in  consec- 
utively to  the  same  place  as  an  emergency  employee.     If  the 
emergency  lasts  long  enough  for  that  it  lasts  long  enough  to 
admit  of  being  filled  by  regular  examination). 

Rule  XIX. — Promotion  of  Laborers. 

i.  Promotion  from  one  grade  to  another  in  the  same  kind 
of  employment  authorized.  Preference  in  same  shall  be  given 
to  those  longest  in  service  who  have  been  faithful,  efficient  and 
qualified  for  promotion.  Helpers  may  be  promoted  to  journey- 
men in  the  trade  in  which  they  are  registered  after  four  years' 


1 88  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

service  in  the  trade.  Promotions  shall  depend  only  on  profi- 
ciency, industry,  regularity  of  attendance,  interest  shown  in  the 
work,  quality  of  work  and  good  conduct. 

2.  Promotion  from  labor  service  to  official  service  may  be 
made  upon  application  and  examination  in  the  manner  required 
for  original  entrance.  Credit  will  be  given  to  such  applicant  for 
efficiency  and  seniority  while  serving  in  the  temporary  or  labor 
service,  as  provided  in  Rule  VIII. 

Rule  XX. — Reports  to  be  Made. 

Appointing  officers  will  immediately  report  to  the  Commis- 
sion the  names  and  the  register  numbers  of  the  persons  em- 
ployed upon  certification  with  date  of  employment,  compensa- 
tion and  upon  termination  thereof  the  date  thereof  and  reason 
therefor,  and  statement  whether  the  service  is  satisfactory.  All 
to  be  in  forms  prescribed  by  the  Commission. 

Rule  XXI. — Reduction  of  Force. 

When  made  by  reason  of  want  of  work,  to  be  made,  first,  by 
dropping  those  least  efficient.  Foreman  shall  be  given  priority 
for  retention  in  some  capacity,  and  shall  be  among  the  last  to  be 
laid  off  as  incentive  to  proper  and  fearless  performance  of  duty. 

Rule  XXII. — Transfers  in  the  Classified  Service. 

1.  Within  the  same  department  in  the  same  division  tempo- 
rary transfers  for  not  exceeding  thirty  days  may  be  made  by 
head  of  department  without  notice  to  the  Commission  where  in- 
tended to  be  permanent  so  that  the  name  will  thereafter  appear 
on  a  different  pay  roll.     Notice  must  be  immediately  sent  to  the 
Commission  and  its  consent  in  writing  obtained  therefor  and  so 
that  entry  of  same  may  be  made  upon  its  records. 

2.  Temporary  transfers  from  one  division  to  another  and 
in  the  same  grade  and  department  may  be  made  on  notice  to  the 
Commission  and  with  its  written  consent,  but  for  periods  not  ex- 
ceeding thirty  days. 

3.  Transfers  without  examination  to  a  similar  position  in 
another  department  may  be  made  on  the  consent  in  writing  of 


MERRITT    STARR.  189 


the  head  of  the  department  and  the  request  in  writing  of  the 
head  of  the  department  to  which  the  removal  is  made,  on  the 
approval  of  the  Commission  in  writing,  provided  same  is  lim- 
ited to  the  same  grade  and  division  of  service. 

Rule  XXIII. — Reinstatement. 

On  requisition  of  the  head  of  a  department  the  Commis- 
sion may  certify  for  reinstatement  therein  in  the  same  division 
and  grade  in  which  he  was  formerly  employed  any  person  who 
formerly  was  appointed  under  its  rules,  and  who  within  one 
year  next  preceding  the  date  of  requisition  has,  through  no 
delinquency  or  misconduct,  been  separated  from  the  classified 
names  of  that  department. 

EXAMINATION  FOR  MATERIAL  INSPECTORS. 

You  will  state  the  chief  defects  to  be  guarded  against  in 
selecting  the  following  kinds  of  material  for  use  in  the  public 
works  of  the  city  of  Chicago  : 

1.  Lumber  and  timber — 

a.  For  paving. 

b.  For  sidewalk. 

c.  For  general  construction. 

2.  Brick — 

a.  For  paving. 

b.  For  sewer  construction. 

c.  For  walls. 

3.  Stone — 

a.  For  block  paving. 

b.  For  Macadam  paving. 

c.  For  rubble  wall. 

d.  For  curbstone. 

4.  Cement. 

5.  Lime. 

6.  Sewer  pipe. 

7.  Sand. 

8.  Gravel. 


190  CHICAGO'S  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

CHICAGO  CIVIL  SERVICE  COMMISSION,  CLASS  A,  DIVISION  I  (IN- 
SPECTION SERVICE).  MASON  AND  MATERIAL  INSPECTORS. 
ORIGINAL  ENTRANCE,  APRIL  30,  1896.  PART  I. 

Penmanship  and  Copying. 
Copy  the  following  exactly : 

Crosswalks. 

There  shall  be  four  (4)  crosswalks  at  each  street  intersec- 
tion, three  (3)  at  each  half  intersection  and  one  (i)  at  each  and 
every  alley,  constructed  of  two  (2)  rows  of  limestone  of  the  best 
quality,  free  from  sand  pockets,  drill  holes,  seams  or  other  de- 
fects and  approved  by  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works.  Said 
sidewalks  to  be  constructed  as  follows :  Each  stone  to  be  four- 
teen inches  (14")  in  width,  not  less  than  six  inches  (6")  in  thick- 
ness, not  less  than  three  feet  (3')  in  length,  with  straight  ends 
and  edges,  with  top  surface  bush  hammered,  and  laid  in  two 
parallel  lines  fifteen  inches  (15")  apart,  the  upper  surface  con- 
forming to  the  surface  of  the  street.  The  stone  shall  be  laid  in 
the  best  possible  manner,  full  bedded  in  sand,  and  rammed  to 
a  -firm  and  solid  bearing  with  closely  fitted  end  joints,  and  with 
a  header  fourteen  inches  (14")  wide,  extending  across  the  full 
width  of  the  crosswalk. 

Arithmetic. 

Give  all  your  work,  except  for  Nos.  I  and  2. 
I.     Add: 

5379 

4116 

4052 

91327 


2.  From  7534026 

take  6475317 

3.  Multiply  39048 

by      675 


MERRITT   STARR.  19! 


4.  Divide  498664  by  684. 

5.  How  many  cubic  ft.  in  4  cubic  yards  ? 

6.  A  stone  wall  is  1-40  of  a  mile  long,  2  ft.  thick,  and  2^ 
ft.  high.     How  many  cords  of  stone  does  it  contain,  a  cord 
being  100  cubic  feet  ? 

7.  How  many  square  yards  in  a  walk  46  ft.  long  and 
ft.  wide? 


192    OHIO  STATE  BOARD  OF  COMMERCE  AND  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OHIO  STATE  BOARD 
OF  COMMERCE. 


THOS.  L.  JOHNSON,  ESQ.,  CLEVELAND. 


The  Constitution  of  Ohio,  adopted  in  1851,  provides  that 
"  all  laws  of  a  general  nature  shall  have  a  uniform  operation 
throughout  the  State."  This  clause  was  inserted  for  the  purpose 
of  remedying  evils  which  had  grown  up  under  the  Constitution 
of  1802,  in  that  laws  of  a  general  nature  were  ofttimes  limited  to 
a  single  county  or  city  in  the  State.  The  reason  for  placing  this 
clause  in  the  present  Constitution  is  unmistakable,  and  how  well 
it  has  served  its  purpose  in  having  uniform  municipal  laws 
throughout  the  State  we  shall  presently  ascertain.  I  shall  make 
no  attempt  to  go  into  the  details  and  mysteries  of  how  cities 
have  been  divided  into  classes  and  grades,  and  regraded  and  re- 
classified,  and  again  sub-regraded  with  provisions  for  passing 
from  one  grade  into  another,  and  rising  or  falling  from  one 
classification  into  another  until  the  ordinary  mind  is  perfectly 
bewildered  as  to  the  purpose  and  meaning  of  such  divisions,  and 
the  courts,  called  upon  to  legally  determine  the  meaning  and 
scope  thereof,  "  sit  in  darkness."  I  will  give  one  or  two  illustra- 
tions of  how  this  supposed  safeguard  can  be  avoided,  and  such 
instances  can  be  multiplied  into  thousands.  Part  of  the  time  it 
has  been  done  in  the  interests  of  good  government,  but  very 
often  in  the  interests  of  schemers  and  that  brood  of  political 
harpies  known  as  "  professional  politician." 

The  city  of  Youngstown,  for  example,  desired  to  change  its 
form  of  municipal  government  in  some  particular;  to  issue 
bonds  for  sewers  or  paving,  or  perhaps  it  was  deemed  desirable 
by  some  to  create  an  office  or  two  to  oblige  a  friend ;  forthwith, 
those  interested  descend  upon  the  legislature  and  a  law  of 
general  nature  is  passed  embodying  the  required  changes  or  ad- 


THOS.    L.    JOHNSON.  193 


ditions.  With  this  provision  of  the  Constitution  in  mind  one 
would  suppose  that  such  a  law  would  operate  uniformly  through- 
out the  State.  By  no  means  is  such  the  case.  Some  one  of 
keen  intellect  has  discovered  that  the  city  of  Youngstown  had, 
at  the  last  federal  census,  a  population  of  seventeen  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  twenty-six,  and  so  he  devises  a  way  to  have 
the  law,  embodying  the  changes,  apply  to  Youngstown  alone, 
and  to  practically  no  other  city  at  any  other  time  by  enacting 
that  all  cities  of  a  certain  grade,  class  and  sub-grade,  having  a 
population  at  the  last  federal  census  of  seventeen  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  twenty-six,  shall  be  governed  in  the  manner  speci- 
fied by  this  act  of  the  legislature.  .  , 

The  Ohio  Legislature  has  authorized  cities  having  a  popula- 
tion of  eleven  thousand  and  four  to  have  their  police  appointed 
and  controlled  in  one  way,  while  other  cities  having  a  popula- 
tion in  excess  of  that  number  by  eighteen  persons,  are  wholly 
dissimilar  in  government  in  those  particulars.  This,  as  I  have 
already  said,  has  been  done  by  the  legislature  not  a  few  hun- 
dred, but  thousands  of  times,  until  our  legislature  is  occupied 
a  large  part  of  its  time  in  passing  laws  which  are  nothing  more 
than  special  legislation  for  every  city  in  the  State,  and  this  jug- 
gling has  been  held  constitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  in  so  many  instances  that  the  judges  thereof  are  now 
hardly  able  to  take  any  observations  and  calculate  what  course 
they  should  sail  when  this  constitutional  question  is  submitted 
to  them. 

It  might  be  proper  to  say  that  the  court  is  drifting  with  a 
tendency  toward  a  different  course.  It  feels  that  it  can  scarcely 
squarely  overrule  itself,  for  then  practically  every  municipal 
government  would  totter  to  its  fall,  offices  by  the  hundred  would 
be  vacant,  and  the  value  of  millions  of  bonds  would  be  proble- 
matical, and  throughout  the  whole  State,  in  matters  municipal, 
chaos  would  come  again. 

During  the  last  few  years  the  tendency  of  the  court  has 
been  to  enforce,  as  far  as  possible,  the  evident  intent  of  the  Con- 
stitution. It  was  an  evil  day  when  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio 


194   OHI°  STATE  BOARD  OF  COMMERCE  AND  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 

did  not  heed  the  words  of  warning  of  one  of  our  greatest 
judges,  when  he  said:  "Believing,  as  I  do,  that  the  success  of 
free  institutions  depends  on  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  fundamental 
law,  I  have  never  yielded  to  considerations  of  expediency  in 
expounding  it.  There  is  always  some  plausible  reason  for  the 
latitudinarian  constructions  which  are  resorted  to  for  the  purpose 
of  acquiring  power — some  evil  to  be  avoided  or  some  good  to 
be  attained  by  pushing  the  powers  of  government  beyond  their 
legitimate  boundary.  It  is  by  yielding  to  such  influences  that 
Constitutions  are  gradually  undermined  and  finally  overthrown." 
This  enormous  amount  of  special  legislation  has  long  been 
deemed  a  menace  by  a  great  body  of  citizens,  and  about  a  year 
ago  the  Municipal  Committee  of  the  Ohio  State  Board  of  Com- 
merce suggested  that  a  conference  be  called  at  Cleveland  for 
the  purpose  of  considering  a  reform  in  this  particular.  A  call 
was  issued  to  the  thirty-six  affiliated  bodies  of  the  State  Board 
by  this  Municipal  Committee  asking  each  to  send  delegates  to 
this  conference,  and  from  all  parts  of  the  State  representatives 
came,  all  the  bodies  asked  sending  delegates  except  three.  The 
conference  lasted  through  a  part  of  two  days,  and  resulted  in  a 
set  of  resolutions  embodying  the  judgment  of  the  convention. 
These  resolutions  were  sent  to  each  of  the  affiliated  bodies,  and 
action  upon  said  resolutions  was  requested.  Such  action  was 
had  by  the  affiliated  bodies,  and  the  resolutions  were  generally 
adopted.  This  action  was  taken  throughout  the  State  prior  to 
the'annual  meeting  of  the  State  Board  in  November,  1895,  where 
the  resolutions  were  presented,  and  at  this  meeting  they  were 
adopted  without  controversy  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
Law  Committee,  which  was  instructed  to  take  such  action  as 
•was  necessary  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  session  of  the  leg- 
islature opening  early  in  January,  1896.  The  resolutions  are  as 
follows  : 

WHEREAS,  It  is  apparent  that  real  and  substantial  reform  in 
municipal  government  cannot  be  attained  by  special  legislative 
enactments  for  the  treatment  of  separate  municipal  evils,  but 
must  be  reached  by  general  laws  establishing  conditions  which 


THOMAS    L.    JOHNSON.  195 


will  enable  the  people  themselves  to  adopt  and  enforce  reform 
politics  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  classification  of  cities,  contrary  to  the  terms 
and  intent  of  the  Constitution,  has  resulted  in  an  enormous 
mass  of  special  legislation,  destroyed  the  safeguards  against  ex- 
travagance, prompted  enactments  against  the  interests  and  desires 
of  the  people  of  the  municipalities,  deprived  them  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  adopt  reforms  and  provide  for  their  normal  develop- 
ments, and  tends  to  minimize  their  individual  responsibility  for 
safe  and  effective  government ;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  spoils  system  of  dispensing  official  patron- 
age is  destructive  to  competent  and  honest  official  service,  and  is 
condemned  by  the  best  thought  of  the  age  in  all  advanced  com- 
munities; and 

WHEREAS,  The  confusion  of  legislative  and  executive  func- 
tions in  the  departments  of  city  government  is  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  our  institutions,  and  impairs  or  destroys  the  checks  and 
balances  without  which  good  government  is  impossible ;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  responsibility  of  municipal  officers  to  their 
constituents  for  good  government  must  be  largely  inoperative 
without  authority  on  the  part  of  the  electors  to  determine  the 
local  policies  that  shall  be  enacted  and  enforced  ;  therefore,  it  is 

Resolved,  By  the  Ohio  State  Board  of  Commerce  that  the 
General  Assembly  be  respectfully  and  earnestly  petitioned  to  re- 
peal the  classification  of  cities  and  to  provide  for  the  govern- 
ment of  all  cities  by  laws  uniform  in  their  operation  throughout 
the  State;  and 

Resolved,  That  such  general  laws  should  provide  for  the 
complete  separation  of  legislative,  executive  and  judicial  func- 
tions in  city  government,  and  ensure  direct  responsibility  to  the 
electors  for  faithful  and  efficient  official  service  ;  and 

Resolved,  That,  so  far  as  practicable,  all  the  subordinate  offi- 
cials below  the  rank  of  heads  of  departments  should  be  placed 
under  civil  service  rules  as  to  their  appointment  and  discharge  ; 
and 


196   OHIO  STATE  BOARD  OF  COMMERCE  AND  MUNICIPAL  REFORM. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  essential  and  necessary  to  the  inception, 
development  and  adoption  of  reform  measures  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  the  several  cities  of  the  State,  that  the  people  of  these 
cities  shall  be  accorded  the  fullest  degree  of  home  rule  consist- 
ent with  the  principles  of  the  Constitution ;  and 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  be  also  petitioned  to 
establish  a  bureau  for  the  collection  and  tabulation  of  municipal 
reports,  which  should  be  prepared  by  municipal  officers  in  a  uni- 
form manner  to  be  prescribed  by  the  head  of  such  bureau  in 
order  that  correct  comparison  of  municipal  expenses  may  be 
made. 

Pursuant  to  instructions,  the  Law  Committee  prepared  a 
bill  providing  for  an  appropriation  of  $30,000  and  the  appoint- 
ment by  the  governor  of  a  commission,  consisting  of  two  mem- 
bers, to  make  an  investigation  and  ascertain  how  many  of  these 
multitudinous  laws  were  now  applicable  to  the  cities  in  the  State, 
to  determine  the  legal  status  of  each  municipality  and  report  the 
result  of  their  labor,  together  with  a  form  of  law  that  should 
govern  all  the  municipalities  in  the  State  and  be  uniform  in  its 
operation.  A  joint  meeting  of  the  Judiciary  and  Municipal 
Committees  of  both  Senate  and  House  was  held  the  first  week 
in  February  last,  and  representatives  of  the  Municipal  and  Law 
Committees  of  the  State  Board  were  present  and  explained  the 
nature  and  purpose  of  the  bill.  Several  objections  were  raised. 
Among  others,  as  to  the  amount  of  appropriation ;  that  there 
should  be  three  members  of  the  commission,  one  of  them  not  a 
lawyer ;  and  some  opposition  was  manifested  by  the  more  parti- 
san newspapers  in  the  State.  It  was  thought,  however,  that  the 
bill  would  pass,  and  that  is  a  great  step  to  be  gained  in  the  direc- 
tion of  this  important  reform  measure  so  well  championed  by 
the  State  Board  of  Commerce. 

Within  the  past  three  days  our  legislature  has  adjourned, 
and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  amid  the  multitude  of  special  bills 
clamored  for  by  a  powerful  lobby  this  important  measure  was 
forgotten.  The  legislature  could  pass  a  bill  extending  municipal 


THOS.    L.   JOHNSON.  197 


franchises  for  fifty  years  in  the  interests  of  certain  corporations 
against  the  nearly  unanimous  protest  of  our  people,  but  the  bill 
looking  to  the  emancipation  of  our  cities  from  political  control, 
or  to  extend  the  principle  of  local  self-government,  the  Ohio 
Legislature  did  not  even  have  time  to  consider. 


198  MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP   OF   STREET    RAILWAYS. 


MUNICIPAL    OWNERSHIP    OF  STREET    RAIL- 
WAYS. 


CHARLES  RICHARDSON,  ESQ.,  PHILADELPHIA, 
FIRST  VICE-PRESIDENT,  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE, 


No  intelligent  and  fair-minded  person  can  make  a  careful 
investigation  of  the  cost  and  earnings  of  street  railways  in  the 
larger  cities  of  the  United  States  without  perceiving  that  better 
service  could  be  given  to  the  people  at  much  lower  rates  than 
those  that  are  now  customary. 

It  is  true  that  in  many  cases  the  facts  have  been  so  disguised! 
or  obscured  by  leases,  consolidation,  stock  watering  or  deceptive 
systems  of  accounting,  that  exact  figures  are  difficult  to  procure. 
There  is,  however,  ample  data  for  ascertaining  the  general  re- 
sults, and  it  does  not  require  much  research  to  discover  that  in 
some  instances,  in  addition  to  all  the  operating  expenses,  repairs,, 
renewals,  taxes  and  public  obligations  for  paving,  &c.,  the 
regular  guaranteed  net  rentals  or  dividends  of  the  leased  lines 
exceed  sixty  per  cent,  per  annum  on  the  amounts  paid  in,  and 
that  the  stocks  are  selling  at  premiums  equivalent  to  more  than 
twelve  hundred  per  cent,  profit  on  the  same  basis  of  calculation. 

It  is  also  easy  to  show,  by  an  analysis  of  construction  and 
operating  expenses,  or  by  the  experience  of  such  cities  as  De- 
troit, Toronto,  Glasgow  and  Berlin,  that  a  reduction  of  thirty  or 
forty  per  cent,  in  the  usual  fares  or  the  payment  of  a  correspond- 
ing amount  into  the  public  treasuries  would  still  leave  a  liberal 
margin  of  profits  on  the  original  investments  of  the  companies. 

For  the  purpose  of  this  paper  it  seems  unnecessary  to  pre- 
sent the  elaborate  details  which  can  be  readily  obtained  by  those 
who  desire  them,  and  it  can  be  safely  assumed  that  most  of  the 


CHARLES    RICHARDSON.  199 

street  railway  companies  in  our  large  cities  are  making  enormous 
and  entirely  unreasonable  profits  at  the  public  expense. 

But  the  intolerable  abuse  of  compelling  the  people  to  pay 
exorbitant  prices  for  being  carried  over  their  own  streets,  is  only 
one  of  many  counts  in  the  indictment  which  can  be  brought 
against  the  present  system. 

It  has  failed  to  give  the  public  adequate  and  proper  service, 
it  has  subjected  employees  to  cruel  and  unreasonable  treatment, 
it  has  led  to  disastrous  strikes  and  riots,  it  has  been  a  prominent 
factor  in  accustoming  the  people  to  regard  the  wholesale  cor- 
ruption of  State  and  city  governments  as  a  matter  of  course,  and 
it  has  been  a  prolific  source  of  stock  watering  and  stock  gam- 
bling. It  is  further  responsible  for  the  existence  of  large  bodies 
of  stockholders  and  investors  whose  pecuniary  interests  are  so 
directly  adverse  to  those  of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  so  depend- 
ent upon  the  continuance  of  a  government  which  can  be  easily 
outwitted  or  corrupted,  that  they  are  much  more  apt  to  oppose 
than  they  are  to  support  the  advocates  of  municipal  reform.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  in  Philadelphia  alone  at  least  seventy 
thousand  persons  are  pecuniarily  interested  in  protecting  the 
street  railway  companies  against  any  municipal  action  which 
might  subject  them  to  reasonable  restraints  or  diminish  their 
profits.  The  growth  of  this  malign  influence  was  forcibly  illus- 
trated by  the  personal  bitterness,  the  baseless  charges,  and  the 
business  antagonism  encountered  by  those  who  took  the  side  of 
the  people  in  their  preliminary  skirmish  with  the  consolidated 
traction  companies  of  Philadelphia  during  the  past  winter.  In 
dealing  with  a  system  which  leads  to  such  results  the  thought 
naturally  occurs  to  us,  that  if  protests  and  restrictions  should 
fail,  if  methods  which  may  be  compared  to  strait-jackets  and 
handcuffs  should  prove  ineffectual,  a  resort  to  some  legal  and 
equitable  process  of  total  extinction  may  finally  become  an  un- 
avoidable necessity. 

In  discussing  the  various  methods  which  have  been  pro- 
posed for  the  correction  of  these  evils  and  for  obtaining  better 


2OO  MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  OF  STREET    RAILWAYS. 

terms  from  the  companies,  the  consideration  of  those  which  de- 
pend entirely  upon  persuasion  or  appeal  without  any  form  of 
coercion,  may  be  safely  postponed  until  the  time  when  lambs  can 
persuade  wolves  to  become  vegetarians. 

Between  such  methods  and  those  which  involve  municipal 
ownership  with  a  system  of  leases  from  the  cities  to  operating 
companies,  there  is  a  very  wide  range,  and  it  may  be  said  that 
their  effectiveness  will  generally  be  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  coercion  employed.  They  are  all,  however,  more  or  less  open 
to  the  objection  that  they  tend  to  multiply  and  perpetuate  the 
existence  of  organizations  which  are  among  the  most  powerful 
and  dangerous  of  all  the  enemies  of  good  government.  The 
dominant  purpose  of  street  railway  companies  is,  to  extort  from 
the  necessities  of  the  people  the  largest  revenues  which  the 
latter  can  be  forced  to  pay.  It  is  as  natural  and  inevitable  for 
such  corporations  to  debauch  and  plunder  a  modern  munic- 
ipality, as  it  was  for  the  robber  barons  to  pillage  and  levy 
tribute  upon  the  rich  cities  of  mediaeval  Europe.  Although 
sxvords  and  spears  are  no  longer  resorted  to  in  this  kind  of 
warfare,  the  weapons  now  employed  for  wholesale  robbery  are 
much  more  effective. 

Well-paid  positions,  free  passes,  valuable  contracts  and  a 
skilful  distribution  of  stocks,  bonds  or  cash  payments,  are  some 
of  the  means  whereby  ward  workers,  nominating  conventions, 
political  leaders,  lobbyists  and  legislative  bodies,  are  converted 
into  the  servile  tools  and  feeders  of  these  industrial  parasites. 
Men  of  means  and  influence,  who  might  otherwise  be  good 
citizens,  are  hypnotized  by  the  opportunities  for  profitable  loans 
and  investments,  while  the  general  public  is  beguiled  and 
placated  by  plausible  misrepresentations,  and  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  mechanical  improvements  which  recent  inventions  have 
rendered  inexpensive  and  remunerative  for  the  companies. 

Under  these  adverse  conditions  it  is  hard  to  see  how  any- 
thing short  of  the  most  radical  measures  can  rescue  our  cities 
from  the  slimy,  paralyzing  folds  of  these  corporate  anacondas. 


CHARLES    RICHARDSON.  2OI 


To  control  the  latter  without  destroying  them  would  require 
far-seeing  business  sagacity,  expert  knowledge,  public  spirit  and 
incorruptible  integrity,  and  these  qualities  are  much  more  con- 
spicuous by  their  absence  than  they  are  by  their  presence  in 
our  local  authorities. 

Experience  has  shown  that  in  this  connection,  as  in  so  many 
others,  the  old  panacea  of  competition  is  only  a  stepping  stone  to 
combination,  consolidation  and  increased  extortion. 

The  success  of  some  of  the  cities  of  Great  Britain  and 
Europe  in  controlling  and  dealing  with  their  transportation 
companies,  is  sometimes  urged  as  a  reason  for  adopting  similar 
methods  here.  But  this  argument  ignores  the  immense  differ- 
ence in  some  of  the  most  essential  local  conditions.  The 
development  of  an  active  intelligent  civic  spirit,  the  practical 
exclusion  of  the  most  ignorant  and  purchasable  classes  from  the 
lists  of  voters,  and  the  absence  of  political  influences  in  the 
matter  of  appointments,  in  foreign  cities,  are  in  brilliant  contrast 
with  our  own  deficiencies  in  these  respects. 

Moreover  there  is  at  the  present  time  in  the  places  where 
municipal  control  has  been  most  successful,  a  strong  and  grow- 
ing tendency  to  resort  to  municipal  operation  as  being  a  still 
better  solution  of  this  difficult  problem.  This  method  is  now 
being  urged  for  American  cities  also,  and  it  is  the  special  object 
of  this  paper  to  advocate  a  more  general  discussion  and  con- 
sideration of  it.  Of  course  it  should  be  understood,  that  so  far 
as  existing  companies  are  concerned,  while  it  might  be  necessary 
for  the  people  to  resort  to  their  fundamental  and  inalienable 
right  of  eminent  domain,  there  should  never  be  anything  like  a 
violation  of  the  principles  of  law  or  equity,  and  that  in  no  case 
should  private  or  corporate  property  be  taken  for  public  use 
without  an  allowance  of  fair  and  reasonable  compensation. 

Some  of  the  most  obvious  arguments  for  municipal  owner- 
ship and  operation  of  street  railways  are  (i)  that  as  public 
streets  are  public  property  the  public  is  entitled  to  all  revenues 
and  all  benefits  which  can  be  obtained  therefrom  ;  (2)  that  with 


2O2  MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP   OF   STREET   RAILWAYS. 

anything  like  honest  management  the  business  would  permit 
of  better  service  and  much  lower  fares  for  the  people,  as  well 
as  better  treatment,  shorter  hours  and  higher  wages  for  the 
employees;  (3)  that  the  construction  of  lines  for  merely  specula- 
tive purposes  and  the  unnecessary  opening  of  streets  would  be 
avoided ;  (4)  that  opportunities  for  the  rapid  accumulation  of 
large  fortunes  by  stock  watering  and  stock  gambling  would  be 
materially  diminished ;  (5)  that  better  and  cheaper  service 
would  greatly  promote  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  our  cities  ; 
and  (6)  that  the  final  abolition  of  such  wholesale  dealers  in 
bribery  and  corruption  as  many  of  the  present  companies,  would 
terminate  the  antagonisms  which  now  exist  between  the  inter- 
ests of  large  sections  of  the  people,  and  would  open  the  way  for 
a  gradual  elevation  of  our  standards  of  public  and  private 
morality  and  business  methods. 

The  principal  if  not  the  only  serious  objections  seem  to  be 
that  the  adoption  of  municipal  operation  would  be  a  new  and 
untried  experiment,  and  that  it  would  necessarily  strengthen 
and  be  controlled  by  the  spoils  system. 

So  far  as  the  charge  of  being  a  new  experiment  is  con- 
cerned it  may  be  pointed  out  that  the  principle  is  precisely  the 
same  as  that  of  the  operation  of  schools,  gas  works,  water 
works,  &c.,  by  cities,  and  of  the  post  office  and  other  depart- 
ments by  the  general  government.  Instead  of  being  a  new 
thing  it  is  only  an  extension  of  the  old  and  familiar  principle 
that  there  are  some  kinds  of  business  which  it  is  advantageous 
or  necessary  to  have  done  by  the  community  as  a  whole,  and 
not  by  a  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many.  The  gradual  increase 
in  the  applications  of  this  principle  has  been  and  must  continue 
to  be  an  inevitable  accompaniment  of  industrial  development  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

In  reply  to  the  assumption  that  if  street  railways  should  be 
operated  by  an  American  city  they  would  only  strengthen  and 
become  subject  to  the  spoils  system,  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  it  is  possible  for  these  results  to  be  more  completely  at- 


CHARLES   RICHARDSON.  203 


tained  in  any  case  than  they  have  already  been  in  some  instances. 
Many  of  the  existing  companies  have  been  converted  into 
political  machines  of  the  most  effective  and  dangerous  character, 
and  while  their  wealth  and  unscrupulousness  and  the  support  of 
stockholders  and  investors  may  make  their  power  for  evil 
greater  than  that  of  a  partisan  machine  or  a  business  department 
of  a  city  government,  they  differ  from  the  latter  in  being  beyond 
the  reach  of  a  popular  vote  and  but  slightly  amenable  to  public 
opinion. 

There  is  another  argument  which  can  be  urged  in  favor  of 
the  municipal  operation  of  street  railways  and  it  is  one  that 
goes  deeper  than  any  mere  question  of  public  convenience  or 
pecuniary  benefit,  deeper  even  than  the  deplorable  evils  of 
bribery  and  corruption  and  spoils  politics,  for  it  reaches  down 
to  the  very  basis  of  popular  government  and  deals  with  the 
fundamental  problem  of  how  to  induce  the  masses  to  exert  that 
active  intelligent  interest  and  that  eternal  vigilance  without 
which  no  form  of  government  by  the  people  can  ever  be  a  per- 
manent success. 

If  there  is  any  one  thing  which  all  reformers  can  agree 
upon  it  is  that  the  greatest  difficulty  in  the  way  of  improving 
our  municipal  conditions  is  the  indifference  of  the  voters.  The 
advocates  of  civil  service  reform,  of  home  rule,  of  proportional 
representation,  of  the  exclusion  of  national  issues  and  party 
politics  from  municipal  affairs,  and  of  other  reform  movements, 
are  united  in  ascribing  the  presence  of  what  is  evil  and  the  ab- 
sence of  what  is  good  to  the  insuperable  apathy  of  the  people 
and  the  lack  of  local  issues  which  can  compete  with  national 
questions  in  exciting  the  interest  and  influencing  the  action  of 
the  average  voter. 

The  lack  of  interest  in  local  contests  is  especially  character- 
istic of  that  very  large  proportion  of  voters  who  are  wage- 
earners  living  in  cities  and  paying  no  direct  taxes.  In  national 
elections  they  can  be  interested  in  tariffs  and  monetary  problems 
as  affecting  their  wages,  their  chances  of  employment,  or  the 


2O4  MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP   OF   STREET   RAILWAYS. 

prices  of  their  food  and  clothing.  But  in  local  contests  they 
fail  to  see  that  the  results  can  be  of  importance  to  themselves, 
and  they  either  avoid  the  polls  or  allow  their  votes  to  be  de- 
termined by  a  trifling  gift,  a  promise  of  work,  or  a  mere  request 
from  professional  politicians  or  their  ward  workers. 

The  problem  of  good  municipal  government  depends  to  a 
very  large  extent  upon  the  possibility  of  convincing  such  voters 
as  these,  that  they  have  a  strong  personal  interest  in  placing 
their  public  business  in  the  hands  of  honest  and  capable  men. 
Is  there  any  better  or  more  effective  way  of  doing  this  than  to 
make  each  individual  feel  that  his  vote  at  a  local  election  may 
have  a  direct  effect  in  raising  or  lowering  all  the  car  fares  which 
he  has  to  pay  for  himself  and  his  family  ?  Is  there  anything 
which  will  do  more  to  make  the  average  citizen  or  wage-earner 
appreciate  the  importance  of  judicious  voting  than  a  knowledge 
that  every  conductor  who  collects  a  fare,  instead  of  being  the 
servant  of  an  irresponsible  corporation,  is  only  the  agent  and 
employee  of  officials  chosen  by  the  people  who  use  the  cars  ? 

It  seems  as  though  it  is  only  the  most  obvious  common 
sense  to  argue  that  the  way  to  make  the  people  take  an  interest 
in  their  government  is  to  make  it  touch  them  as  directly  and  as 
often  and  at  as  many  points  as  possible.  It  is  only  in  propor- 
tion to  our  success  in  doing  this  that  we  can  reasonably  expect 
them  to  give  an  active,  intelligent,  non-partisan  support  to  good 
government,  or  to  join  in  overthrowing  and  exterminating  the 
mismanagement  and  corruption  of  the  spoils  system. 

Is  it  not  true  that  the  rapid  progress  of  civil  service  reform 
and  good  business  management  in  our  national  government  has 
been  rendered  possible  by  a  degree  of  popular  support  which 
could  not  have  been  obtained  if  the  government  had  been  less 
interesting  to  the  people,  or  had  only  affected  them  in  fewer  and 
less  obvious  ways? 

Will  not  the  voters  be  more  careful  in  the  selection  of  their 
agents  when  they  can  feel  that  it  is  their  ox  and  not  that  of  the 
capitalist's  which  is  being  gored  ? 


CHARLES   RICHARDSON.  2OJ 


There  is  an  old  story  of  a  party  of  American  sailors  on 
shore-leave  in  one  of  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies.  Becoming 
interested  in  a  very  exciting  and  popular  cock-fight,  they  finally 
offered  to  bet  that  they  could  produce  "a  bird  "which  could 
whip  anything  on  the  island.  Their  wager  was  eagerly  accepted 
and  a  day  was  fixed  for  the  contest. 

At  the  appointed  time  the  sailors  produced  the  strangest- 
looking  fowl  that  had  ever  been  seen  in  that  vicinity. 

Crouching  low  upon  the  ground,  with  its  head  under  its 
wing  and  its  body  covered  with  nondescript  feathers  sticky  with 
tar,  the  creature  seemed  so  destitute  of  life  and  spirit  as  to 
awaken  nothing  but  derision.  Even  the  Spanish  game  cock 
appeared  to  be  puzzled  at  first,  and  crowed  and  strutted  con- 
temptuously about  for  some  time,  but  finally  he  made  a  sudden 
leap  and  dashed  his  sharp  spurs  into  the  forlorn-looking  object. 

The  latter  only  gave  a  little  shake  of  annoyance  and  then 
relapsed  into  its  former  sullen,  motionless  indifference.  Again 
and  again  the  triumphant  game  cock  repeated  his  assault  with- 
out arousing  the  least  symptom  of  resistance.  But,  at  last,  an 
unusually  vigorous  thrust  was  followed  by  a  sudden  transforma- 
tion of  the  subdued  and  well-disguised  bird.  There  was  a  wild 
scream  of  rage,  a  broad  spreading  of  mighty  wings,  and  in  an- 
other instant  the  audacious  game  cock  was  pinned  to  the  ground, 
and  his  head,  torn  from  his  body,  was  quivering  in  the  powerful 
talons  of  an  American  eagle. 

Is  there  not  something  in  this  story  which  suggests  that 
even  if  the  proposition  which  we  have  been  discussing  should 
result  in  adding  some  extra  spurs  and  some  livelier  kicking  to 
the  heels  of  professional  politicians,  the  final  outcome  would  be 
eminently  satisfactory  and  conclusive  ? 

Is  there  not  reason  to  believe  that  in  our  dread  of  political 
corruption  and  our  profound  appreciation  of  the  inherent  de- 
pravity of  municipal  governments,  we  have  been  too  timid  about 
measures  which  would  tend  to  bring  the  people  face  to  face  and 
into  direct  contact  with  the  wasteful  inefficiency,  vicious  methods 
and  inevitable  mismanagement  of  the  spoils  system  ? 


2O6  MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP   OF   STREET   RAILWAYS. 

Under  our  form  of  government  the  surest  way  to  remedy 
an  evil  is  to  make  everybody  feel  it,  and  then  put  those  who  are 
guilty  within  the  reach  of  their  victims. 

When  the  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  street  rail- 
ways is  considered  from  this  point  of  view,  its  advocates  may 
claim  that  in  addition  to  all  its  other  advantages  it  must  be 
recognized  as  a  powerful  agency  for  the  development  of  civic 
spirit,  the  elevation  of  popular  standards,  the  adoption  of  busi- 
ness methods,  the  political  education  of  the  masses,  and  the  final 
overthrow  of  the  spoils  system. 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP.  2O/ 


MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP. 


FRANK  M.  LOOMIS,  ESQ.,  BUFFALO,  N.  Y. 


In  response  to  a  suggestion  that  the  negative,  as  well  as  the 
affirmative,  of  the  "  Municipal  Ownership  "  question  ought  to 
be  presented  on  this  occasion,  I  have  been  asked  to  open  the 
discussion  upon  the  understanding  and  in  the  expectation  that 
I  should  espouse  the  negative  of  the  question. 

I  recognize  and  deprecate,  I  think  as  much  as  any  one 
present,  the  oppression  of  corporate  greed  consequent  upon  the 
unrestricted  management  and  control  of  franchises  by  private 
capital.  I  recognize  and  would  give  due  weight  to  the  fact  that 
the  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  these  franchises  is  ad- 
vocated as  a  remedy  for  present  ills  by  men  whose  motives  are 
above  suspicion,  and  to  whose  judgment  we  have  all  been  accus- 
tomed to  defer  in  the  reform  movements  in  which  we  have  been 
associated. 

And  yet  I  appear  here,  I  trust  not  presumptuously,  to  op- 
pose, to  denounce,  even,  any  scheme  for  the  municipalization  of 
franchises  as  radically  wrong,  as  inherently  vicious  ;  and  to 
urge  as  the  true  remedy  for  acknowledged  ills,  democratic  home 
rule  ;  a  rigid  municipal  control,  as  distinguished  from  legislative 
control  ;  municipal  control,  as  distinguished  from  municipal 
operation  of  franchises ;  in  short,  the  democratic  rather  than  the 
socialistic  plan.  Let  me  be  understood.  I  recognize  the  brav- 
ery, I  will  not  say  bravado,  of  the  modern  reformer  who  boasts 
that  he  is  not  to  be  deterred  from  advocating  any  pet  scheme  by 
the  spectre  of  socialism.  I  honor  and  appreciate  his  sincerity, 
also,  and  therefore  would  have  it  understood  at  the  outstart  that 
I  use  the  word  socialism  as  a  descriptive  rather  than  as  a  stig- 
matic  term.  It  should  be  noted,  moreover,  that  it  is  the  munic- 
ipal ownership  and  operation  of  franchises,  not  municipal  con- 


2O8  MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIPt> 

trol,  which  is  here  deprecated  as  socialistic.  The  words  "  mu- 
nicipal control  "  are  very  loosely,  and,  I  insist,  very  improperly, 
used  to  describe  only  that  control  which  is  incidental  to  owner- 
ship and  operation  of  the  franchise. 

Any  statement  of  reasons  for  opposing  the  municipalization 
of  franchises  must  needs  be  trite,  being,  in  the  main,  but  a  re- 
statement of  the  time-worn,  but  time-honored,  argument  against 
all  socialistic  schemes.  It  is,  of  course,  in  brief,  that  the  ego- 
istic incentive  to  individual  enterprise  is  removed,  or,  at  least, 
greatly  lessened;  that  personal  liberty  is  unnecessarily,  even 
dangerously,  restricted;  and  that  a  resulting  deterioration  of  the 
race  is  all  but  certain  to  follow.  It  is  the  time-worn,  time-hon- 
ored protest  against  all  forms  of  paternalistic  legislation,  supple- 
mented and  re-enforced  by  the  vision  of  a  prospective  horde  of 
officeholders,  against  whom  civil  service  reformers  will  contend 
in  vain.  It  is  a  reassertion  of  the  scriptural  truth  that  every 
man  must  work  out  his  own  salvation,  of  the  allied  scientific 
truth  that  the  fittest  must  and  ought  to  survive,  and  that  only 
as  man  is  allowed  to  reap,  whether  for  good  or  evil,  that  which 
he  has  sown  in  the  exercise  of  a  freedom  of  choice,  limited  only 
by  the  like  liberty  of  his  fellow,  can  any  real  substantial  progress 
be  made  toward  that  happy  goal  whence  evolution  tends. 

The  contention  of  the  Bellamyist  that  the  egoistic  incentive, 
which  would  be  lacking  under  a  socialistic  regime,  is  not  an 
essential  factor  in  the  evolution  of  man,  can  be  met  here  only 
by  a  direct  assertion  that  his  theory  contravenes  all  experience. 
Time  and  space  at  my  command  do  not  permit  any  marshaling 
of  the  facts  or  a  review  of  the  evidence.  So,  too,  with  the  pater- 
nalist. Lack  of  time  prevents  a  review  of  the  facts  showing  the 
fatuity  of  paternalistic  legislation.  And  I  am  all  but  content 
that  this  is  so,  because  of  the  utter  hopelessness  of  convincing 
by  argument  alone  any  one  wedded  to  paternalistic  theories ;  to 
theories  like,  for  instance,  the  more  or  less  popular  idea  that  a 
people  can  be  made  rich  by  taxation  of  imports.  Still  less  prof- 
itable would  it  be  to  argue  with  those  who,  by  their  advocacy  of 


FRANK    M.    LOOM  IS.  2OQ 


legislation  inhibiting  the  use  of  things  not  wrong  except  in  their 
abuse,  tacitly  assert  that  the  divine  economy  of  nature  can  be 
improved  upon  by  making  innocence,  rather  than  resistance  of 
temptation,  the  test  of  virtue. 

For  the  sake  principally  of  logical  sequence,  and  to  the  endr 
in  part,  that  no  socialist  or  paternalist  may  feel  that  his  claims 
to  consideration  have  been  altogether  slighted,  I  have  elaborated 
more  than  I  deem  necessary  the  oft-repeated  objections  to  their 
theories.  My  principal  contention  to-day,  however,  is  with  the 
modern  reformer,  the  anti-natural  monopolist,  who  either  scorns 
the  appellation  of  socialist,  or,  if  very  brave,  says  that  he  isn't  to- 
be  scared  by  an  intimation  that  he  holds  socialistic  views.  Now, 
I  am  no  more  concerned  about  terminology  than  are  my  brave 
opponents.  Yet  at  the  very  beginning  of  my  argument  with 
them  I  must  take  exception  to  their  use  of  the  term  "  natural 
monopoly,"  as  not  being  properly  descriptive  of  the  industries 
from  which  it  is  proposed  to  exclude  private  enterprise.  Rail- 
road companies,  gas  and  electric  lighting  companies,  all  corpora- 
tions, in  fact,  are  the  creatures  of  law,  and,  therefore,  are  artifi- 
cial, or,  if  you  please,  unnatural  rather  than  natural  monopolies. 
The  fact  that  public  interest  and  convenience  do  not  admit  of 
competition  between  rival  companies  in  public  highways,  does 
not  make  the  corporation,  the  creature  of  law,  any  the  less  an 
artificial  creation.  I  mention  this  only  in  passing.  While  the 
terminology  used  may  not  be  a  matter  of  very  great  importance, 
yet,  like  the  Rooseveltian  assumption  that  good  things  are 
American  and  other  things  un-American,  it  cannot  pass  unchal- 
lenged. 

But  to  the  argument.  Is  the  municipalization  or  nationali- 
zation of  the  so-called  natural  monopolies  open  to  the  objections 
urged  to  the  socialistic  scheme  in  general  ?  My  answer  is,  yes. 
Not  simply  in  the  abstract,  not  technically,  but  in  a  very  sub- 
stantial sense ;  and  for  the  reason  that  these  monopolies  from 
which  it  is  now  proposed  to  exclude  private  capital,  and,  there- 
fore, individual  enterprise,  comprise  a  very  large  and  constantly- 
increasing  proportionate  part  of  human  industry. 


2IO  MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP. 

Taking  it  now  for  granted,  without  further  argument,  that  it 
is  unwise,  generally  speaking,  at  least,  to  minimize  the  incentive 
to  individual  enterprise,  there  is  now  to  be  considered  the  reason 
or  reasons  alleged  to  be  sufficient  for  exempting  monopolies 
(called  natural)  from  the  application  of  the  general  principle. 
Speaking  broadly  I  may  say  that  I  understand  my  opponents' 
contention  to  be  that  when  the  city  owns  and  operates  the  fran- 
chise there  will  result : 

1.  A  cheapening  of  the  product  of  monopoly  manufacture, 
and  a  reduction  of  the  cost  and  charge  for  the  semi-public  ser- 
vice rendered. 

2.  An  improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  product  and  better 
public  service. 

It  is  argued  that  competition  being  impracticable  in  the 
monopolized  industry,  the  community  ought  to  monopolize  it 
rather  than  leave  it  in  the  hands  of  a  favored  few.  This,  as  I 
understand  it,  is  urged  as  the  only  effective  method  by  which 
equality  of  right  can  be  secured  in  the  absence  of  competition. 

In  answer  to  this  argument,  which  I  have  endeavored  to 
present  fairly,  I  have  to  say,  that  it  has  never  been  shown,  and 
in  the  very  nature  of  things  never  can  be  shown,  that  the  public 
can  manufacture  a  better  article  or  render  better  service  at  a 
less  cost  than  a  private  corporation  or  an  individual  capitalist. 
The  latter  are  impelled  by  the  strongest  motive  known  to  human 
nature — self-interest — to  manufacture  as  cheaply  as  possible. 
On  the  other  hand  the  indifference  of  the  average  officeholder 
to  the  cost  or  price  of  anything,  which  is  to  be  paid  for  by  a 
draft  on  the  public  treasury,  is  too  well  known  to  need  com- 
ment. Statistics,  all  but  innumerable,  show  that  gas,  electricity, 
water,  street  railway  service  are  oftentimes  furnished  to  the  peo- 
ple at  a  less  price,  and  sometimes  of  a  better  quality,  by  the 
municipality  than  by  the  private  corporation.  But  these  statis- 
tics prove  little  or  nothing  as  to  the  relative  cost  of  production, 
and  in  many  cities,  like  Philadelphia,  for  instance,  the  product 
of  municipal  manufacture  is  said  not  to  be  very  satisfactory.  A 
favorite  method  of  compilation  is  to  estimate  the  cost  of  the 


FRANK    M.    LOOMIS.  211 


original  investment  for  the  municipal  plant  as  nothing,  on  the 
theory  that  when  the  money  needed  therefor  is  derived  or  re- 
funded from  the  sale  of  the  municipal  product  the  charge  to  the 
people  for  such  product,  like  the  protective  tariff,  is  not  a  tax. 
It  is  doubtful,  also,  whether  the  municipal  bookkeeping,  on 
which  these  statistics  are  based,  takes  any  account  of  interest  on 
investment,  of  repairs  and  renewals,  of  damages  paid  on  ac- 
count of  accidents,  or  of  the  taxes  which  would  have  been  paid 
to  the  municipality  by  a  private  corporation  doing  the  business. 
It  is  not  altogether  certain  either  that  the  figures  furnished  by 
the  employees  of  a  city  are  always  reliable. 

But  granting,  for  argument's  sake,  the  correctness  of  the 
statistics,  they  prove  at  most  what  any  one  in  his  senses  would 
have  conceded  at  the  outstart,  viz.,  that  with  the  element  of 
profit  eliminated,  the  product  can  and  will  be  sold  at  a  less  price 
to  the  consumer  than  if  the  monopolist  is  left  free  to  charge  his 
own  price. 

But  this  is  elementary,  and  might  well  have  been  taken  for 
granted  without  resort  to  statistics.  It  may  as  freely  be  granted 
and  might  as  well  be  argued  that  if  the  socialistic  programme 
was  carried  out  in  its  entirety  the  first  cost  of  everything  to  the 
consumer  would  be  less  than  under  the  present  industrial  system. 
If  the  element  of  profit  be  eliminated,  of  course  the  charge  to 
the  consumer  is  less ;  but  if,  as  usually  happens,  the  consumer 
is  also  a  producer  and  is  barred  from  any  profit,  it  is  difficult  to 
see  how  he  is  to  gain  by  the  change  of  system. 

So  of  the  community  which  hopes  to  gain  an  advantage 
from  the  consumption  or  use  of  cheap  water,  gas,  fuel  or  other 
commodity  manufactured  or  produced  without  profit.  What  is 
gained  in  one  way  is  lost  in  another. 

By  this,  of  course,  I  do  not  mean  to  be  understood  as  say- 
ing that  the  converse  of  the  proposition  is  true  in  the  sense  that 
any  individual  member  of  the  community  has  returned  to  him, 
directly  or  indirectly,  the  legitimate  profits  which  he  might  make 
in  any  business  which  may  be  monopolized  by  a  municipality. 
The  vice  of  all  communistic  or  semi-communistic  schemes  is 


212  MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP. 


that  the  least  worthy,  the  dependent  class,  is  thereby  enabled  to 
live  on  the  producer,  something  which  I  assume  no  one  present 
would  countenance.  Be  this  as  it  may,  I  am  concerned  only  to 
show  that  the  community  as  a  whole  cannot  be  benefited  by 
establishing  a  system  under  which  any  commodity  is  furnished 
or  service  rendered  by  the  municipality  at  a  price  from  which 
the  element  ef  profit  is  eliminated. 

There  is  still  left  to  be  considered  the  proposition  that 
under  the  present  system  those  who  control  the  monopolized 
industries  are  enabled  to  charge  exorbitant  unearned  profits ; 
but  this,  as  before  intimated,  I  am  not  disposed  to  dispute. 
Neither  do  I  take  issue  with  those  who  assert  that  the  prices 
charged  by  the  so-called  natural  monopolists  cannot  be  regu- 
lated by  competition.  Public  convenience  clearly  does  not 
admit  of  competition  in  public  highways,  and  it  is  equally  cer- 
tain that  no  law  can  be  framed  which  will  successfully  bar  a 
consolidation  of  competing  interests. 

Many  people,  perhaps  most  people,  immediately  conclude 
that  with  the  possibility  of  competition  excluded  there  is  no 
remedy,  except  for  the  municipality  to  go  into  business  on  its 
own  account.  This  is  indeed  a  singular  and  a  vital  error,  and  it 
has  resulted  largely,  I  think,  from  a  want  of  due  consideration 
of  the  conditions  which  make  monopolies  a  possibility. 

Almost  if  not  every  monopoly,  every  one  with  which  I  am 
acquainted,  is  a  corporation  or  a  body  having  semi-corporate 
powers.  It  is,  therefore,  not  only  a  misnomer  to  call  a  monop- 
oly "  natural,"  but  it  is  literally  true  that  deprived  of  the  powers 
given  to  it  by  the  people  the  monopoly  would  cease  to  exist. 
It  is  literally,  absolutely  true,  that  monopolies  are  the  result,  not 
of  natural  conditions,  but  of  legislation  favorable  to  their  growth. 
The  remedy,  therefore,  is  to  be  found,  not  in  the  creation  of  a 
larger,  a  municipal  or  national  corporation,  which  shall  swallow 
up  the  smaller  ones,  but  by  restoring  to  the  people  of  each  com- 
munity the  power  to  regulate  the  operation  of  any  franchise  in 
their  midst.  The  warrant  for  the  exercise  of  this  power,  different 
from  and  in  excess  of  what  could  rightfully  be  exercised  over 


FRANK    M.    LOOMIS.  213 


the  individual  citizen,  is  to  be  found,  not  in  any  fanciful  assump- 
tion that  the  franchise  is  a  "  natural "  monopoly,  but  in  the  fact 
that  the  monopoly  has  been  created  and  sustained  by  the  spe- 
cial privileges  granted  to  it  by  the  people  different  from  and  in 
excess  of  those  enjoyed  by  the  individual  citizen. 

But,  it  will  be  said,  this  power  already  exists  and  is  not 
exercised.  Not  so,  my  friends,  or  at  least  only  in  a  very  narrow, 
technical  sense.  The  people,  through  their  representatives  in 
the  legislature,  have  a  certain  limited  control  of  the  situation, 
but  there  is  nothing  even  approximating  that  democratic  home 
rule,  which  would  solve  the  problem  for  us  as  it  has  in  demo- 
cratic France.  The  constitutions  and  laws  of  many  of  our 
States,  as  construed  by  the  courts,  inhibit  needed  municipal 
control  of  corporations — a  condition  which  ought  to  be  met  by 
such  an  amendment  to  these  constitutions  and  laws  as  shall  re- 
serve or  restore  to  the  people  the  right  to  regulate  the  operation 
of  all  monopolies. 

We  have  not  in  any  substantial  sense  municipal  control  as 
distinguished  from  legislative  control.  There  is  not,  for  instance, 
any  power  vested  in  the  municipalties  to  fix  by  ordinance  the 
rates  which  shall  be  charged  by  street  railway  companies.  The 
municipal  authorities  have  no  power,  as  in  France  and  some 
other  European  countries,  to  examine  the  books  of  gas  com- 
panies and  other  monopolies,  and  fix  the  amount  of  their  charges 
on  the  basis  of  the  net  earnings  as  shown  by  an  examination  of 
their  business. 

I  can  all  but  hear  some  opponent  say  that  this  course 
would  not  prove  effective  with  corrupt  city  officials. 

Make  no  such  mistake.  It  is  easy,  comparatively  easy,  to 
pass  an  unjust  bill,  affecting  only  a  particular  locality,  through 
the  legislature  by  the  corrupt  use  of  money,  because  the  bulk 
of  the  legislators  cannot  be  made  directly  amenable  to  the  in- 
jured voters.  It  is  too  easy  also,  I  grant  you,  to  control  the 
actions  of  local  officials  with  money.  But  this  again  is  due 
largely  to  the  fact  that  the  limitation  on  their  powers  gives  them 
the  very  excuse  wanted  for  making  what  is  always  said  to  be 


214  MUNICIPAL   OWNERSHIP. 

the  best  bargain  obtainable.  But  suppose,  for  example,  that 
absolute  power  be  vested  in  the  local  authorities  to  fix  the  rate 
of  fare,  the  number  of  cars  and  the  character  of  street  car  ac- 
commodation ;  and  suppose  that  the  question  of  high  or  low 
feres  be  made  a  direct  issue  in  the  election  of  candidates  for  city 
offices.  Here  would  be  an  issue  not  political,  not  primarily  or 
necessarily  involving  a  question  of  principle,  but  one  which 
would  appeal  directly  to  the  pocketbooks  of  every  man,  woman 
and  child  in  the  city.  Can  any  one  doubt  the  result  of  such  an 
election,  or  the  effectiveness  of  such  a  remedy  to  cure  the  nat- 
ural monopoly  evil  so-called  ?  I  think  not ;  I  know  not,  and 
so  know  you  all.  It  would  be  necessary  rather  to  put  a  curb 
on  the  power  of  the  populace,  which  might  easily  be  done  by 
giving  to  the  aggrieved  monopolist  the  right  to  apply  to  the 
courts  for  redress,  placing  the  burden  upon  him,  however,  of 
showing  affirmatively  by  his  books,  open  to  the  inspection  of  all, 
that  real  injustice  had  been  done.  It  would  be  virtually  or 
nearly  the  same  procedure  as  now  obtains  when  the  assessors 
assume  to  put  an  undue  burden  of  taxation  upon  a  corporation 
doing  business  within  the  city  limits. 

This  then  is  the  remedy ;  a  remedy  based  not  on  theory 
alone,  but  which  has  been  found  wonderfully  effective  in  Europe 
in  solving  the  very  questions  which  now  confront  us,  and  nowhere 
more  effective  than  in  democratic  France  under  universal  man- 
hood suffrage.  It  is  distinctively  democratic,  especially  as  com- 
pared with  the  municipal  socialism  which  is  making  such  rapid 
strides  in  Germany  to-day.  It  offers  the  only  escape  from  that 
condition  which  Herbert  Spencer  so  aptly  terms  "  The  Coming 
Slavery."  Socialism,  the  tyranny  of  the  masses,  is  no  less  to  be 
dreaded  than  monopoly,  the  tyranny  of  the  classes. 

Gentlemen,  at  the  meeting  of  the  League  last  year  I  took 
occasion  to  direct  attention  to  the  manifold  advantages  of  the 
democratic  system  of  municipal  government  in  European  cities, 
as  compared  with  our  autocratic  system,  and  was  met  with  the 
rejoinder  that  the  people  of  free  America  could  not  be  trusted 
to  rule  wisely  through  the  agency  of  an  unsalaried  Council,. 


FRANK    M.    LOOMIS. 


elected  by  popular  suffrage.  To-day  those  who  distrust  the 
ability  of  the  people  to  protect  their  rights  under  a  democratic 
system  come  to  the  front  with  a  proposition  to  turn  over  to  the 
people,  not  only  the  control  of  that  which  is  their  own,  but  a 
moneyed  interest  in  that  which  is  not  and  ought  not  to  be  theirs. 
Passing  strange  it  is  that  in  free  America  the  democratic  features 
of  European  municipal  government  are  deprecated  as  unsafe, 
while  an  open  welcome  is  given  to  the  insidious  advances  of 
the  socialist. 

For  one,  I  am  proud  to  declare  myself  a  democrat  still,  in 
the  widest,  broadest  signification  of  the  term,  and  to  proclaim 
my  adherence  to  democratic  home  rule  as  the  one  effective 
remedy  for  municipal  ills. 


2l6  PUBLIC   CONTROL  OF   MUNICIPAL   FRANCHISES. 


PUBLIC   CONTROL   OF    MUNICIPAL 
FRANCHISES. 


HON.  HAZEN  S.  PINGREE, 
MAYOR  OF  DETROIT. 


The  question  of  the  control  of  corporations  operating  under 
municipal  franchises  is  a  purely  political  question.  A  question 
of  practical  politics. 

A  municipal  franchise  may  be  defined,  for  the  purposes  of 
this  paper,  to  be  the  act  of  a  public  body  corporate,  giving  the 
right  to  tax  a  private  body  corporate  and  fixing  the  limit  of  such 
tax.  Regulatory  power,  of  course,  is  understood.  In  theory 
the  question  is  a  very  simple  one.  All  that  is  to  be  done  is  to 
elect  your  public  representatives  and  they  will  do  the  rest.  In 
practice  it  is  a  very  complex  question. 

At  the  outset,  under  our  voting  system,  there  are  what  are 
called  the  caucuses,  then  comes  the  convention,  and,  finally,  the 
election  of  these  representatives  of  the  public  interest.  The 
trouble  commences  at  the  political  party  caucuses.  To  suggest 
that  the  power  of  the  State  be  called  upon,  even  to  regulate  party 
caucuses,  is  raising  a  very  delicate  question.  It  should  not  even 
be  touched  upon  if  it  cannot  be  plainly  shown  that  frauds  are 
perpetrated  there.  And  even  then  the  State  should  not  interfere 
unless  it  can  be  shown  that  such  frauds  directly  interfere  with 
subsequent  legislation  and  that  such  legislation  is,  in  part,  a 
fraud  upon  the  people. 

So  far  as  my  testimony  goes  my  experience  in  public  life 
shows  that  such  fraud  clearly  takes  its  rise  at  the  political 
primaries.  People  who  are  interested  in  obtaining  franchises, 
or  in  maintaining  charges  against  a  prospective  change  in  a 
franchise,  are  keenly  alive  to  the  value  of  the  primaries,  and 


HON.    HAZEN   S.    PINGREE.  2 1/ 

many  instances  have  come  to  my  knowledge  of  the  capture  of 
those  primaries  by  bribery.  So  far  as  the  primaries  are  con- 
cerned there  is  some  sort  of  safeguard  in  having  them  flooded 
by  the  people;  but  that  involves  the  honest  handling  of  the 
ballots  cast. 

In  Michigan  we  have  a  modification  of  the  Australian  ballot 
system  for  the  caucuses  of  cities  with  a  certain  population.  This 
system  was  put  into  practice  last  year  for  the  first  time  and  has 
been  found,  in  a  measure,  satisfactory.  The  people  turned  out 
in  much  larger  numbers  than  before,  satisfied  that  their  ballots 
could  not  be  changed  before  their  faces,  as  had  been  done  in 
many  cases  in  former  times,  and  that  they  would  get  a  fair 
count,  which  could  scarcely  be  had  under  the  old  way.  Be- 
sides, with  this  system,  under  which  the  poll  lists  are  used,  no 
man  can  vote  twice  or  in  two  party  caucuses.  Under  the  old 
system,  with  no  State  regulation,  the  primaries  were  entirely  at 
the  mercy  of  a  few  people,  directly  or  indirectly  interested  in 
corporations  controlling  franchises,  and  the  result  was  that,  with 
party  lines  drawn,  a  majority  of  corrupt  people  found  their  way 
into  the  Common  Council,  who  represented  the  franchise-hold- 
ing corporations.  The  city  paid  fifty  dollars  per  month  to 
aldermen  and  the  corporations  purchased  them  in  blocks  when 
they  were  required. 

Thus  the  city  was  practically  governed  by  the  corporations 
operating  franchises,  as  the  State  was  and  still  is  dominated  by 
the  railroads  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  control  of  those  roads, 
the  same  as  the  Congress  is  radically  influenced  by  the  com- 
bined railroad  and  vessel  interests. 

I  would  say,  therefore,  that  the  control  of  the  primaries  by 
the  people  is  the  proper  guard  for  the  future ;  but  it  is  quite 
another  matter  to  face  present  conditions  that  have  had  their 
origin  in  the  past.  It  is  not  impossible  that  by  the  enforcement 
of  the  police  powers  the  street  railways  might  be,  in  some 
measure,  controlled;  but,  as  the  franchises  are  looked  upon  as 
contracts  by  the  courts,  little  could  be  accomplished,  as  corpora- 
tions are  notorious  litigants,  being  able  to  maintain  themselves 


2l8  PUBLIC   CONTROL   OF   MUNICIPAL   FRANCHISES. 

against  cities  disposed  to  contest,  and  there  is  also  the  involve- 
ment growing  out  of  the  contract  between  the  money  of  the 
corporations  and  the  venality  of  aldermen,  besides  the  entangle- 
ment of  these  special  interests  with  the  banks,  and  through  the 
banks  with  the  general  business  of  cities. 

A  so-called  franchise  for  a  street  railway,  like  a  so-called 
charter  for  a  steam  railway,  resembles  a  device  by  which  a  Com- 
mon Council  or  a  legislature  takes  the  governing  power,  in  part, 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  people  and  surrenders  it  to  a  class. 

While  I  do  not  profess  to  see  the  material  difference  between 
a  street  car  or  a  railroad  car  and  a  dray,  a  coupe  or  a  hack,  and 
fail  to  see  why  the  proprietor  of  the  car  gets  a  franchise  or  a 
charter  and  the  proprietor  of  a  hack  or  other  carriage  gets  a 
license,  although  both  are  doing  the  same  business  in  the  same 
street,  it  is  evident  the  courts  see  the  difference  between  the 
documents,  as  they  declare  the  franchise  to  be  a  contract  which 
cannot  be  disturbed,  although  such  contract  makes  it  possible 
for  private  combinations  to  practically  control  the  government 
that  enters  into  it.  (There  are  many  cities  that  have  entered 
into  these  kind  of  contracts,  giving  rates  of  fare  upon  a  silver 
basis,  and  these  rates  of  fare  have  been  enhanced  by  the  action 
of  the  general  government  establishing  a  gold  basis). 

Thus  the  contract  entered  into  by  a  subordinate  government 
is  radically  changed  in  effect  by  the  act  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, and  yet  the  Supreme  Courts  sustain  these  changed  con- 
tracts and  hold  up  rates  of  fare. 

I  would  therefore  conclude  that  for  all  future  prospects  of 
control  the  primaries  must  be  the  resort.  To  that  end  there 
must  be  a  revival  of  the  primaries,  in  order  that  the  people  may 
control  the  actions  of  political  parties  now  controlled  by  the  few. 
There  is  safety  in  the  mass. 

For  the  control  of  franchise-holding  people,  whose  so-called 
contracts  were  entered  into  by  local  governments  in  the  past,  the 
only  recourse  that  I  can  see  is  the  courts. 

I  only  venture  upon  two  suggestive  points  in  the  premises, 
although,  did  time  permit,  the  question  admits  of  greater  eluci- 
dation. 


MUNICIPALITIES    AND    CORPORATIONS.  2IQ 


THE  RELATION  OF  A  MUNICIPALITY  TO 
QUASI-PUBLIC  CORPORATIONS  ENJOYING 
MUNICIPAL  FRANCHISES— PARTICULARLY 
AS  REGARDS  THE  INTERESTS  OF  THEIR 
EMPLOYEES. 


WILLIAM  M.  SALTER,  ESQ.,  PHILADELPHIA. 


In  general,  there  would  seem  to  be  a  line  of  distinction 
between  industrial  undertakings  that  start  up  on  their  own  ac- 
count and  those  that  require  the  authorization  of  society.  There 
are  businesses  for  which  society  does  little  beyond  giving  them 
police  protection ;  there  are  others  that  owe  their  origin  to 
society  and  receive  privileges  from  society.  A  corporation  is  an 
example  of  the  latter  class,  and  particularly,  a  corporation  en- 
joying some  public  franchise ;  it  is,  in  a  sense,  a  social  creation, 
and  apart  from  the  social  sanction,  has  no  independent  existence. 

Out  of  this  difference  in  nature  springs  a  difference  in  the 
way  in  which  private  employers  on  the  one  side  and  corpora- 
tions on  the  other  may  be  practically  treated  by  society.  A 
private  business  naturally  regulates  itself  and  only  some  extra- 
ordinary reason  of  the  public  good  can  justify  society  in  inter- 
fering with  it ;  but  a  business  that  would  not  exist  but  for  social 
authorization  and  that  has  received  favors  from  society  stands  in 
a  different  category.  What  society  has  created  it  has  some 
claim  upon ;  it  may  reasonably  ask  that  its  creature  shall  not 
proceed  altogether  according  to  its  own  will,  but  shall  respect, 
in  some  measure,  the  will  of  the  power  that  made  it.  It  is  true 
that  in  creating  corporations,  society  may  contract  to  leave  them 
entirely  free  to  act  as  they  choose ;  and  if  it  is  foolish  enough  to 
do  so,  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  remedy  it  has  if  the  corporations 
proceed  in  a  manner  displeasing  to  it,  and  no  matter  how  dis- 
pleasing it  must  either  break  its  contract  or  allow  the  obnoxious 


22O  MUNICIPALITIES   AND   CORPORATIONS. 

proceeding  to  continue— either  alternative  being,  perhaps,  worse 
than  the  other.  But  in  the  absence  of  any  such  express  con- 
tract, society  may  naturally  be  held  to  have  power  over  its 
creations,  or,  what  is  the  same,  corporations  may  be  held  to 
have  only  so  much  liberty  as  is  expressly  granted  to  them.  As 
artificial  rather  than  natural  persons,  they  have  (to  use  con- 
venient phraseology)  only  acquired,  no  natural  rights.* 

To  guard  against  excessive  assumption  of  private  right  on 
the  part  of  corporations,  most  of  the  commonwealth  constitu- 
tions adopted  since  the  Dartmouth  College  case  have  expressly 
reserved  to  the  legislature  the  right  to  alter  or  amend  corporate 
charters  (*.  e.t  those  granted  after  the  constitutional  provisions 
should  go  into  effect).  And  the  legislatures  of  various  com- 
monwealths and  of  the  United  States  have  acted  in  the  same 
spirit  in  refusing  to  allow  certain  corporations  the  liberty  to  fix 
their  charges  as  they  saw  fit.  Warehouse  men  and  railroads 
have  had  their  charges  fixed  for  them,  or  rather  a  maximum 
charge.  Even  where  a  railroad  charter  has  given  a  board  of 
directors  power  to  establish  such  rates  of  toll  as  they  might 
from  time  to  time  determine,  legislative  action  regulating  such 
rates  has  been  upheld,  in  case  the  constitution  of  the  common- 
wealth contained  a  reservation  of  the  right  to  alter  or  amend 
corporate  charters  of  the  kind  just  referred  to.  (Illinois  Central 
R.  R.  Co.  vs.  Illinois,  95  111.,  313,  1880).  Recently  an  Illinois 
Appellate  Court  has  claimed  the  same  right  for  a  city  council  in 
relation  to  a  street  railway  company  that  is  already  conceded  to 
commonwealth  or  national  legislatures  in  relation  to  the  trans- 
portation companies  of  the  country  at  large.  Such  legislative 
action  may  always,  on  occasion,  be  reviewed  and  its  reasonable- 
ness passed  upon  by  the  courts,  but  whatever  the  result,  com- 
plete liberty  for  the  corporation  is  in  principle  denied. 

The  motive  of  this  abridgement  of  liberty  is  the  public  con- 

*  Chief  Justice  Marshall  (in  Dartmouth  College  vs.  Woodward,  4 
Wharton,  636)  said:  "Being  the  mere  creation  of  law,  it  possesses  only 
those  properties  which  the  charter  of  its  creation  confers  upon  it,  either 
expressly  or  as  incidental  to  its  every  existence." 


WILLIAM    M.    SALTER.  221 


venience  or  interest.  (I  am  not  able  to  make  out  whether  it  is 
done  under  what  is  called  the  "  police  power "  or  not.  If  the 
police  power  relates  simply  to  the  public  health  or  the  public 
morals,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  either  of  these  are  furthered  by 
a  fixing  of  warehouse  or  railroad  charges.  If,  however,  as  Judge 
Shaw  defined  it,  it  covers  whatever,  "  not  repugnant  to  the  Con- 
stitution," is  "  for  the  good  and  welfare  of  the  commonwealth 
and  of  the  subjects  of  the  same,"  *  then  it  would  seem  that  the 
police  power  might  give  the  warrant  for  such  regulation).  The 
question  may  be  raised  whether  regulation  of  corporate  action 
of  any  other  kind  may  be  defended  on  the  ground  of  the  public 
interest,  or,  what  is  the  same,  how  widely  the  public  interest 
may  be  conceived.  Strictly  speaking,  the  regulation  of  ware- 
house charges  is  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  store  grain,  the 
regulation  of  railway  charges  for  the  benefit  of  the  traveling 
or  shipping  public,  and  the  question  is  whether,  as  the  interest 
of  these  classes  is  identified  with  that  of  the  public,  the  interest 
of  other  classes  may  be  so  identified.  A  large  class,  perhaps 
the  largest  class  in  the  community  at  the  present  time,  is  that  of 
those  who  do  manual  or  other  labor  for  hire.  They  stand  in  a 
private  contractual  relation  to  their  employers.  In  the  case  of 
those  hired  by  private  employers  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  society 
can  affect  their  status  or  conditions,  for  they  are  not  hired  by 
society  or  by  those  who  have  any  special  obligations  to  society. 
But  the  employees  of  corporations  are  in  a  different  relation  to 
society ;  they  are  hired  by  a  body  that  could  not  exist  but  for 
society,  and  if  society  chooses  to  demand  of  its  creatures  that 
they  treat  their  hired  servants  in  a  certain  manner,  it  is  at  liberty 
to  do  so.  It  may,  for  example,  fix  the  scale  of  remuneration 
below  which  they  shall  not  be  paid,  or  the  number  of  hours 
beyond  which  they  shall  not  be  required  to  work,  or  enumerate 
the  liberties  which  they  shall  not  be  denied ;  in  short,  protect 
them  in  whatever  ways  its  own  sense  and  conscience  may  de- 
termine. 

Probably  no  one  would  deny  that  a  commonwealth  might 
•"Commonwealth  vs.  Alger,  7  Gushing,  53,  at  pp.  84,  85. 


222  MUNICIPALITIES   AND   CORPORATIONS. 

act  in  this  way  in  chartering  corporations  in  the  first  place,  and 
that  it  would  be  simply  a  question  of  expediency  whether  such 
a  course  should  be  pursued.     But  the  practical  question  now  is 
whether,  having  chartered  corporations  without  such  stipula- 
tions, a  commonwealth  is  at  liberty  afterwards  to  add  them. 
This  can  only  be  answered  by  observing  whether  the  common- 
wealth bargained  not  to  add  them,  or  whether,  in  its  organic 
law,  it  left  its  hands  free.     We  have  seen  already  that  most  of 
the  later  commonwealth  constitutions  have  left  the  law-making 
power  free  to  amend  corporate  charters  and  to  regulate  in  some 
measure  corporate  acts ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  if  the  law- 
making  power  may  regulate  corporate  action  in  the  interest  of 
one  part  of  the  public  it  may  not  do  so  in  the  interest  of  an- 
other part.     The  practical  question  here  as  elsewhere  (suppos- 
ing the  commonwealth  has  not  tied  its  hands  in  the  constitution) 
would  be  simply  one  of  expediency,  for  even  with  the  right  to 
more  or  less  regulate  corporate  conduct  in  the  interest  of  those 
employed,  it  might  not  be  expedient  to  do  so,  supposing,  for  in- 
stance, that  the  effect  of  doing  so  would  be  to  hinder  corpora- 
tions from  realizing  the  profit,  the  expectation  of  which  would 
be  necessary  to  lead  to  their  formation  or  continued  operation. 
It  is  in  the  light  of  these  general  principles  that  I  view  the 
question  assigned  to  me  this  morning  of  the  "  Relation  of  a 
Municipality  to  a  Quasi-Public  Corporation  Enjoying  Munici- 
pal Franchises,"  particularly  as  regards  the  rights  and  interests 
of  those  employed  by  such  a  corporation.     I  am  not  competent 
to  discuss  the  respective  functions  of  the  municipality  and  the 
commonwealth  in  the  matter,  or  to  say  whether  appeal  should 
be  made  to  City  Councils  or  to  the  legislature  in  case  improved 
treatment  of  their  employees  by  corporations  is  desired.     I  am 
only  concerned  to  state  my  belief  that  corporations,  and  particu- 
larly corporations  having  some  special  gift  from  the  public,  stand 
in  a  peculiar  relation  to  the  public  (whether  the  public  be  taken 
in  the  form  of  the  municipality  or  the  commonwealth)  and  may 
be  peculiarly  treated  by  the  public,  save  as  the  public  may  have 
limited  its  own  power  over  them.     The  question,  apart  from  this 


WILLIAM    M.    SALTER.  22$ 


restriction,  is  simply  what  the  public  wants  to  do  and  how  much 
it  wants  to  do  it.  Already  it  has  limited  the  number  of  hours 
per  day  during  which  the  employees  of  some  corporations  may 
be  required  to  work,  and  it  may  limit  them  still  further.  It  has 
recently  signified  its  will  in  some  commonwealths  that  employees 
should  not  be  hindered  from  joining  organizations  for  the  pro- 
motion of  their  interests,  though,  as  the  prohibitions  have  in- 
cluded private  employers  as  well  as  corporations,  constitutional 
objections  may  be  (as  in  Missouri  they  have  been)  raised,  which 
may  hold  in  the  case  of  the  individual  employer,  but  might  not 
in  the  case  of  the  corporate  employer.  The  public  may  also 
desire  that,  when  the  business  of  the  corporation  allows,  better 
wages  should  be  paid  to  its  employees  than  the  mere  higgling  of 
market  would  secure,  and  either  by  legislation,  or,  better,  by 
commissions,  or,  better  still,  by  providing  for  arbitration  when 
differences  between  the  employees  and  the  corporation  arise, 
carry  this  desire  into  effect. 

Action  of  this  sort  would  doubtless  encounter  obstacles 
from  the  courts  on  two  grounds:  (i)  That  it  limited  the  right  of 
free  contract  on  the  part  of  the  corporations,  and  (2)  that  it  was 
class  legislation.  But  the  question  is  whether  corporations  have 
an  unlimited  right  of  free  contract,  save  as  it  has  been  expressly 
granted  to  them.  If  corporations  have  an  unlimited  right  of 
free  contract  then  the  regulation  of  railroad  and  warehouse 
charges  is  of  doubtful  constitutionality,  and  some  judges  have 
so  held ;  but  the  highest  court  of  the  land  upholds  the  regula- 
tion. Undoubtedly  the  abridgement  of  liberty  is  an  evil,  but 
after  all  it  may  be  the  lesser  of  two  evils,  and  it  is  not  always  re- 
membered that  abridging  one  person's  liberty  may  be  the  only 
means  of  giving  liberty  to  another.  Limiting  a  corporation's 
liberty  to  contract  with  its  employees  to  labor  for  any  number  of 
hours  may  be  the  only  way  of  freeing  the  employees  from  the 
necessity  of  laboring  any  number  of  hours.  Prohibiting  a  con- 
tract by  which  an  employee  binds  himself  not  to  join  a  labor 
organization  may  be  the  only  way  in  which  the  employee  can 
get  real  liberty  to  join  such  an  organization.  Our  courts 


224  MUNICIPALITIES   AND  CORPORATIONS. 

sometimes  fail  to  see  that  the  liberty  they  so  zealously  defend 
may  be  all  on  one  side — that  on  the  other  side  liberty  may  be  a 
purely  nominal  affair  and  practically  indistinguishable  from 
slavery.  Not  long  ago  it  would  have  been  a  kind  of  irony  to 
call  the  employees  of  one  quasi-public  corporation  in  Philadel- 
phia free  men ;  if  they  asserted  their  freedom  it  was  at  the  risk 
of  being  obliged  to  quit  the  service  of  the  corporation.  It  is 
not  freedom  with  nothing  to  do,  but  freedom  in  employment  that 
the  workingmen  of  the  country  want,  and  that  they  will  get 
when  the  public  conscience  is  alive  (at  least  in  all  businesses 
that  get  their  authorization  from  the  public). 

As  to  the  charge  of  class  legislation,  it  may  perhaps  be 
asked  that  some  reason  be  exercised  in  deciding  what  is  class 
legislation.  In  England  there  are  laboring  classes',  lodging- 
houses'  and  dwellings'  acts,  permitting  municipalities  to  provide 
for  the  housing  of  the  working  classes.  Is  this  class  legisla- 
tion ?  In  all  of  our  commonwealths  debts  for  labor  services  are 
specially  recognized  and  protected.  Is  this  class  legislation  ? 
Sometimes  the  charges  of  intelligence  offices  are  limited  by  law 
for  the  benefit  of  those  seeking  employment.  Is  this  class  legis- 
lation? There  are  laws  against  usury  for  the  benefit  of  the 
necessitous.  Sailors  have  always  had  special  protection  on  ac- 
count of  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  their  employment.  Are 
these  class  laws  ?  The  law  has  fixed  charges  for  railroad  com- 
panies when  it  has  not  fixed  them  for  telephone  companies,  and 
it  has  fixed  them  for  telephone  companies  when  it  has  not  for 
telegraph  companies.  Is  this,  too,  class  legislation  ?  If  classes 
of  individuals  or  of  business  do  exist  in  a  community,  and  if 
their  needs  or  their  situation  and  relation  to  the  community  are 
peculiar,  and  if  the  laws  apply  uniformly  thoughout  the  class, 
such  laws  are  hardly  to  be  called  class  legislation  in  any  objec- 
tionable sense  of  the  term.  Now  in  the  industrial  world  corpora- 
tions make  a  class  by  themselves,  and  corporations  with  special 
privileges  make  an  altogether  special  class,  and  the  public  has  a 
claim  on  them  and  a  right  to  regulate  their  dealings  with  their 
employees  such  as  it  may  not  have  in  the  case  of  employees  in 


WILLIAM    M.    SALTER.  22$ 


general.  A  true  municipality  (or  community  of  any  sort)  de- 
sires to  have  the  labor  employed  in  it  fairly  treated ;  it  may  not 
be  able  to  affect  the  labor  that  is  privately  employed,  but  it  can 
the  labor  which  it  employs  itself,  and  also  (unless  my  argu- 
ment is  mistaken)  that  which  is  employed  by  those  who  are 
directly  beholden  to  it. 

It  may  well  be  that  it  should  not  do  this  without  some  de- 
mand or  effort  on  the  part  of  labor  itself,  for  benefits  conferred 
in  response  to  no  exertion  are  not  productive  of  the  highest 
good.  But  when  labor  does  become  articulate  in  its  demands 
and  makes  an  appeal  to  the  community  the  community  should 
not  shut  its  ears,  but  should,  to  the  extent  of  its  ability  and 
using  its  own  discretion  as  to  ways  and  means  and  as  to  how  far 
it  shall  go,  heed  the  appeal,  and  make  the  interest  of  labor,  as  it 
does  already  the  interest  of  trade  and  commerce,  a  part  of  its 
own  interest. 


226         STATE  BOARDS  OF  MUNICIPAL  CONTROL. 


STATE    BOARDS    OF    MUNICIPAL    CONTROL. 


HON.  FREDERICK  W.  HOLLS,  NEW  YORK. 


The  proper  relation  between  a  city  and  the  commonwealth 
of  which  it  forms  a  part  is  a  subject  of  perennial  interest,  and 
one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  applied  political  science. 
Its  solution  will  for  many  years  to  come  make  great  demands 
upon  the  judgment  and  skill  of  jurists,  constitutional  lawyers 
and  administrators,  and  no  topic  seems  to  be  better  adapted  to, 
or  more  needful  of,  the  suggestive  and  fructifying  influences  of 
a  critical  discussion  in  a  national  conference  of  municipal  re- 
formers. 

A  few  years  ago  the  best  thought  upon  this  subject  seemed 
to  be  focused  in  a  general  demand  for  "  Home  Rule  "  for  cities, 
with  as  little  State  supervision  and  interference  as  possible. 
Expecting  little  relief  from  legislatures  reformers  generally  con- 
sidered the  adoption  of  the  proper  constitutional  amendments  as 
the  end  to  which  their  efforts  should  be  directed,  and  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention  of  New  York,  in  1894,  seemed  to  offer 
the  opportunity  of  a  lifetime.  The  Committee  on  Cities  of  that 
convention  shared  the  general  impression  so  fully  that  the 
amendments  reported  to  the  convention  for  the  purpose  of  regu- 
lating the  relation  of  the  cities  to  the  State  bore  the  sub-title, 
"  To  provide  Home  Rule  for  Cities."  This  led  to  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  entire  subject,  more  thoughtful  and  searching  than  it 
had  yet  received,  though  very  imperfectly  reflected  in  the  printed 
debates.  The  result  was  that  the  proposed  amendments  of  the 
committee  were  modified  almost  beyond  recognition,  and  the 
cry  for  constitutional  "  Home  Rule  "  on  grounds  of  theory  or 
anticipated  benefit  has  almost  entirely  subsided. 

The  two-fold  character  of  the  American  city  can  no  longer 
be  questioned.  So  far  as  its  own  citizens  are  concerned  it  is, 


HON.    FREDERICK    W.    ROLLS.  22/ 

indeed,  a  business  corporation,  and  it  may  reasonably  ask  for  as 
much  liberty  as  is  necessary  to  permit  the  utmost  possible 
healthy  development  of  its  resources  and  faculties.  But  it  is 
also,  in  its  corporate  capacity,  the  agent  of  the  sovereign  com- 
monwealth, collecting  the  revenues  and  enforcing  the  laws  of 
the  latter  by  its  own  local  officers,  and  this  feature  of  munici- 
pal activity,  while  it  has  generally,  perhaps,  been  emphasized 
too  much,  cannot  be  ignored  in  scientific  discussion,  and  makes 
a  material  relaxation  of  State  control  impossible.  The  congre- 
gating together  of  a  large  number  of  individuals  on  a  small 
surface  does  not  change  their  relation  to  the  State,  and  it  would 
be  decentralization  gone  mad  to  permit  the  establishment  of  a 
number  of  small  sovereignties,  independent,  under  the  constitu- 
tion, of  the  central  power,  and  yet  all  members  of  the  same 
commonwealth.  For  this  reason  the  New  York  Constitutional 
Convention  wisely,  as  it  seems  to  me,  declined  to  limit  the  ulti- 
mate power  of  the  legislature  over  the  municipalities,  and  con- 
tented itself,  so  far  as  municipal  reform  is  concerned,  with  gen- 
eral provisions  designed  to  improve  the  system  of  government 
generally,  and  especially  providing  that  the  voice  of  a  city's 
chosen  officers  must  be  heard  before  a  special  law  could  be 
enacted. 

It  is  a  fact,  however,  that,  notwithstanding  this  constitu- 
tional check,  special  legislation  for  cities  continues  to  be,  in 
New  York  as  elsewhere,  one  of  the  chief  evils,  if  not  the  worst 
of  all,  from  which  our  municipal  governments  are  suffering. 
The  disease  is  as  virulent  as  ever,  and  the  discovery  that  heroic 
treatment  by  constitutional  prohibition  would  be  too  drastic  can 
be  called  an  advance  only  in  so  far  as  it  clears  the  way  for  other 
milder  remedies.  How  to  combine  the  greatest  freedom  of 
local  action  with  sufficient  control  on  the  part  of  the  State,  and 
how  to  limit  the  interference  of  the  legislature  without  prevent- 
ing that  interference  when  required,  is  the  problem  which,  now 
as  ever,  confronts  municipal  reformers  in  every  State. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  treat,  necessarily  in  a  brief 
and  inadequate  manner,  of  what  seems  to  be  the  most  promising 


228  STATE   BOARDS   OF   MUNICIPAL   CONTROL. 

solution  of  this  problem  which  has  yet  been  suggested,  to  wit, 
the  establishment  by  law  of  State  Boards  of  Municipal  Control. 
It  will  be  most  convenient  to  discuss  the  idea  as  it  has  been 
formulated  in  the  only  bill  upon  the  subject  which  has  yet  been 
introduced,  to  my  knowledge,  in  any  American  legislature,  and 
which  has  whatever  prestige  may  attach  to  the  unanimous  rec- 
ommendation of  two  State  commissions  charged  with  the  in- 
vestigation of  municipal  governments. 

In  the  State  of  New  York  the  governor  was  authorized  by 
law  in  1895  to  appoint  two  commissions,  of  five  members  each, 
to  formulate  a  uniform  charter  for  the  cities  of  the  second  and 
third  classes,  respectively,  and  to  report  such  other  legislation 
as  would,  in  their  opinion,  improve  the  government  of  these 
cities.  These  commissions  submitted  separate  uniform  charters  for 
the  cities  of  the  respective  classes,  but  both  united  in  recommend- 
.  ing  the  adoption  of  a  law  creating  a  State  municipal  government 
board,  and  defining  its  powers  and  duties.  For  the  purposes  of 
this  discussion  the  fact  is  immaterial  that  the  legislature  which  has 
just  adjourned  failed  to  even  debate  any  of  these  bills.  The 
experience  of  history  shows  that  it  is  the  usual  fate,  in  New 
York,  of  the  recommendations  of  commissions  to  fail  for  at  least 
one  session  of  the  legislature,  and  that  they  are  almost  invari- 
ably adopted — generally  piecemeal — in  succeeding  years.  Ac- 
cordingly, there  is  still  good  reason  to  hope,  unless  some  other 
State  should  act  very  promptly,  that  New  York  will  be  the 
pioneer  commonwealth  to  adopt  the  principle  of  a  State  Board 
of  Municipal  Control. 

The  idea  is  by  no  means  original,  and  it  is  in  a  general  way 
in  full  working  order  to-day  in  England,  where  the  Local  Gov- 
ernment Board  affords  a  most  valuable  example  and  practical 
illustration  of  what  it  is  hoped  to  accomplish  in  this  country. 
Moreover,  a  most  interesting  and  valuable  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject will  be  found  in  the  "  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Political  and  Social  Science,"  from  the  pen  of  Prof.  J.  R.  Commons , 
one  of  the  ablest  among  the  younger  jurists  in  the  country,  to 
whom  the  most  ample  acknowledgment  of  his  labors  in  this 
direction  is  due. 


HON.   FREDERICK   W.    HOLLS.  229 

To  describe  with  any  fullness  whatever  the  history  and 
present  operation  of  the  English  Local  Government  Board 
would  require  much  more  time  and  space  than  is  at  my  dis- 
posal.* 

In  a  general  way  it  is  doubtless  known  that  the  English 
Local  Government  Board  exercises  supervisory  control  over  all 
cities  of  Great  Britain,  with  the  single  exception  of  London ; 
that  it  has  power  to  compel,  and  does  compel,  a  uniform  method 
of  municipal  bookkeeping  and  careful  and  accurate  returns  of 
the  administration  of  the  police  and  sanitary  regulations  and  the 
poor  laws,  and  the  fullest  publicity  regarding  all  expenditure  of 
public  moneys.  It  is  required  to  advise  Parliament  with  refer- 
ence to  all  special  legislation,  and  all  local  bills  are  subject  to  its 
investigation  and  recommendation  which  is  usually  adopted  by 
Parliament.  It  has  control,  by  the  power  of  disapproval,  of  the 
incurring  of  debt  on  the  part  of  any  municipality  and  also  of 
the  sale  or  leasing  of  municipal  property  longer  than  a  period 
of  a  few  years.  It  gives  certificates  of  efficiency  to  the  depart- 
ments charged  with  the  execution  of  police,  sanitary  or  poor 
laws,  which  certificates  are  prerequisites  to  the  obtaining  of 
public  money  from  the  treasury  of  the  United  Kingdom.  It  has 
a  well-organized  staff  of  experts,  and  its  presidency  is  deemed 
an  office  of  such  importance  that  its  incumbent  is  a  member  of 
the  Cabinet;  and  the  Lord  President  of  the  Council,  all  the  Sec- 
retaries of  State,  the  Lord  Privy  Seal  and  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  are  ex-officio  members.  Altogether,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  important  organs  of  government  in  Great  Britain  and  one 
of  the  most  instructive  examples  in  practical  politics  for  which 
we  are  indebted  to  the  mother  country. 

*  Municipal  reformers  in  this  country  are  to  be  congratulated  upon  the 
fact  that  this  very  fruitful  field  has  been  occupied  by  a  young  scholar  of 
thoroughness  and  ability,  Mr.  Milo  R.  Maltbie,  of  the  School  of  Political 
Science  of  the  Columbia  University  in  New  York,  who  is  now  engaged 
upon  a  dissertation  upon  the  history  and  practical  workings  of  the  English 
Local  Government  Board,  and  whose  very  valuable  notes  upon  the  subject 
the  writer  has  been  permitted  to  examine. 


23O  STATE   BOARDS   OF   MUNICIPAL   CONTROL. 

The  bill  which  has  been  submitted  by  the  New  York  com- 
missions provides  that  there  shall  be  a  municipal  government 
board  in  and  for  the  State  of  New  York,  which  board  is  to  con- 
sist of  the  controller,  the  attorney-general  and  five  members  to 
be  appointed  by  the  governor,  not  more  than  three  of  whom 
shall  be  members  of  the  same  political  party.  They  are  all 
required  to  be  residents  of  cities  of  the  second  or  third  class  of 
the  State,  and  their  terms  are  made  five  years,  with  the  provis- 
ion that  the  first  commissioners  to  be  appointed  shall  be  ap- 
pointed for  one,  two,  three,  four  and  five  years,  so  that  hereafter 
the  term  of  one  commissioner  will  expire  in  each  year,  and  each 
governor  will  be  enabled  to  appoint  at  least  two  members.  In 
this  way  it  is  hoped  to  secure  a  continuous  body,  and  at  the 
same  time  provision  is  made  to  change  the  political  complexion 
of  the  board  if  the  people  of  the  State  should  so  desire.  Fixity 
of  tenure  is  provided,  by  making  the  members  removable  only 
on  charges  and  with  the  approval  of  the  Senate.  The  question 
of  salary  has  been  left  open  for  the  decision  of  the  legislature. 
The  commissions  recommended  that  the  salary  should  either  be 
high  or  nominal,  in  order  to  secure  the  best  talent  in  the  State. 
The  board  is  authorized  to  appoint  a  secretary  and  the  neces- 
sary clerical  force,  and  is  required  to  hold  meetings  at  least  once 
a  month  throughout  the  entire  year,  and  as  often  as  necessary 
during  the  session  of  the  legislature,  to  perform  their  extremely 
important  duty  of  reporting  upon  all  city  bills. 

The  powers  and  duties  of  this  board  are  quite  limited  in 
the  bill  as  presented  by  the  commissions.  Cities  from  the  first 
class — being  only  the  Greater  New  York  and  Buffalo — are 
exempted  from  its  provisions,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  it  would 
be  physically  impossible,  under  existing  conditions,  for  five  men 
to  perform  analogous  duties  for  the  huge,  new  and  chaotic  metrop- 
olis in  addition  to  the  task  of  looking  after  the  smaller  munici- 
palities. The  board  is  to  have  the  general  supervisory  control 
of  the  government  of  the  cities  of  the  second  and  third  classes 
(being  all  cities  under  250,000  inhabitants  in  the  State),  and  to 
this  end  it  is  authorized  to  prescribe  uniform  methods  of  book- 


HON.    FREDERICK    W.    HOLLS.  23! 

keeping,  and  of  keeping  statistics  and  a  form  of  report  for  every 
municipal  department  These  reports  are  to  be  collated,  tabu- 
lated and  published  at  least  once  a  year,  with  such  suggestions 
as  the  commission  may  deem  proper.  Besides  this  regular 
source  of  information,  the  board  is  given  great  powers  of  inves- 
tigation, either  of  its  own  motion  or  upon  the  petition  of  any 
citizen  of  any  city.  It  is  authorized  to  employ  experts  of  any 
kind,  and  not  only  all  municipal  officers,  but  also  all  persons 
having  contracts  with  municipalities,  are  required  to  furnish  all 
information  asked  for  by  the  board,  whose  subpoenas  are  given 
the  same  force  as  those  issued  by  the  Supreme  Court.  It  would, 
therefore,  be  quite  within  the  power  of  the  board,  in  case  of 
charges  of  jobbery,  extravagance  or  corruption  in  the  carrying 
out  of  a  municipal  improvement,  to  summon  the  city  officers 
and  the  contractors,  with  their  books  and  papers,  for  a  search- 
ing judicial  investigation,  and  to  employ  competent  engineers, 
architects  and  accountants  to  report  upon  the  true  cost  of  the 
work  and  the  percentage  of  profit  made  or  demanded. 

A  further  duty  is  imposed  upon  the  board  of  passing  upon 
the  regularity  of  all  municipal  bond  issues  before  they  are 
placed  upon  the  market.  It  did  not  seem  wise  in  the  beginning 
to  give  the  board  authority  to  pass  upon  the  merits  of  the  in- 
tended municipal  debt  and  to  disapprove  it  if  it  was  considered 
undesirable.  It  will  be  admitted,  however,  that  questions  of  the 
regularity  of  municipal  bonds,  whether  their  issue  is  within  the 
limits  set  by  the  constitution,  whether  the  purposes  for  which 
they  are  issued  are  lawful,  or  whether  the  steps  necessary  to 
create  a  valid  lien  in  favor  of  such  bonds  have  been  taken,  are 
most  important,  not  only  for  the  city,  but  also  for  intending  in- 
vestors. The  bonds  of  solvent  economical  cities  are  largely  held 
by  savings  banks.  In  other  words,  the  small  savings  of  work- 
ingmen,  artisans  and  other  people  of  limited  means  are  largely 
invested  in  such  securities.  Every  safeguard  with  which  they 
can  be  surrounded  presents,  therefore,  many  incidental  advan- 
tages beyond  checking  hasty  or  illegal  action  by  the  munic- 
ipal authorities  themselves. 


232  STATE   BOARDS   OF   MUNICIPAL   CONTROL. 

Finally,  the  duties  imposed  upon  the  board,  as  a  check  to 
hasty  and  special  legislation,  are  of  great  importance.  It  is  pro- 
vided that  every  bill  relating  to  cities  of  the  second  or  third 
class  which  is  introduced  into  either  house  of  the  legislature 
shall  immediately  be  transmitted  by  the  clerk  of  such  house  to 
the  board,  and  that  the  board  shall  within  ten  days  thereafter 
report  to  the  speaker  of  the  assembly  or  the  president  of  the 
senate,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  opinion  of  the  board  upon  such 
bill.  It  is  likewise  made  the  duty  of  the  board  to  take  testi- 
mony and  to  have  hearings  for  or  against  any  proposed  change 
in  any  law  relating  to  any  city  of  the  second  or  third  class,  if 
requested  by  either  the  Senate  or  Assembly  or  by  the  Governor 
to  do  so,  and  to  report  their  conclusions  in  writing  to  the  Senate, 
Assembly  or  Governor,  as  the  case  may  be,  from  whom  the  re- 
quest to  act  originated. 

If  the  experience  of  the  railroad  commission  can  be  taken 
as  a  criterion  very  few  bills  recommended  by  the  board  will  fail, 
and  very  few  measures  disapproved  by  the  board  will  become 
laws.  The  provision  for  a  report  by  the  board  will  prove  espe- 
cially valuable  during  the  last  weeks  of  the  session,  when  the 
power  to  hold  a  report  for  ten  days  may  often  defeat  jobs  intro- 
duced at  the  last  moment.  At  all  events,  an  element  of  expert 
knowledge  and  opinion  will  be  tentatively  introduced  into  legis- 
lation on  municipal  subjects,  and  the  sound  common  sense 
and  almost  unfailing  political  instinct  of  the  American  people 
may  be  trusted  to  develop  the  idea  in  whatever  direction  it 
proves  to  be  most  valuable. 

This  is  in  brief  the  scheme  presented  by  the  New  York 
State  Municipal  Government  Board  Bill,  and  it  is  firmly  believed 
that  it  contains  the  germs  of  a  reform  which  will  be  found  valu- 
able in  nearly  all  of  the  States  of  the  union.  At  present  the 
published  reports  of  different  cities  are  practically  valueless  for 
purposes  of  comparison,  for  the  reason  that  the  system  of  book- 
keeping and  of  keeping  statistics  is  different  in  each  place.  The 
reason  of  this  is  not  far  to  seek.  When  the  village  has  grown 
to  a  size  justifying  a  city  charter  the  charter  of  the  nearest  small 


HON.    FREDERICK    W.    HOLLS.  233 

city  is  usually  copied  by  some  enterprising  attorney,  with  such 
changes  as  experience  or  the  political  exigencies  of  the  place 
suggest,  and  it  is  passed  with  little  discussion,  no  attention  what- 
ever being  given  to  details  by  the  legislature.  The  new  mayor 
is  quite  likely  to  be  a  merchant,  and  even  if  that  is  not  the  case 
some  successful  merchant  is  apt  to  be  in  the  Common  Council,  and 
when  the  new  city  stationery  is  bought  he  naturally  attends  to 
the  buying  of  the  account  books,  and  being  the  only  expert  ob- 
tainable, he  probably  prescribes  the  method  of  keeping  account 
as  well  as  statistics  according  to  his  own  experience  in  his  shop. 
In  most  cases  each  municipal  department  keeps  independent  ac- 
counts, and  the  consequences  of  such  a  haphazard  system  may 
readily  be  seen  if  we  take  one  very  common  example,  which  is 
the  despair  of  students  of  comparative  municipal  administration. 
Where  the  streets,  sewers  and  water  supply  are  attended  to  by 
different  commissions  a  certain  amount  of  uniformity  of  records 
is  indeed  impossible,  but  even  then  no  estimate  of  the  continu- 
ing cost  of  keeping  streets  in  good  order  can  be  made,  for  the 
same  street  may  be  excavated  for  purposes  of  repair  by  each 
one  of  these  different  authorities.  Likewise  in  the  administra- 
tion of  relief  for  the  proof  it  is  notorious  that  scarcely  any  ac- 
count is  kept  in  most  places  and  petty  scandals  are  the  rule 
rather  than  the  exception. 

While  the  smaller  cities  of  a  great  State,  like  New  York, 
are  widely  separated  in  situation,  their  wants  are  not  essentially 
different,  and  there  is  no  reason  in  the  world  why  any  one  city 
should  not  profit  by  the  experience  of  all  the  rest,  with  refer- 
ence, for  instance,  to  the  best  material  and  methods  of  paving 
or  of  supplying  water  or  light.  When  the  present  independent, 
wasteful  methods  are  considered  it  may  well  be  possible,  if  not 
probable,  that  the  cost  of  the  entire  municipal  government  board 
might  be  saved  to  the  people  in  the  first  year  many  times  over 
by  a  comparison  of  the  prices  paid  by  different  cities  for  various 
materials  and  services,  provided  the  comparison  would  be  made 
intelligently  and  by  statistics  gathered  upon  a  uniform  plan. 
That  municipal  bonds  would  sell  materially  higher  if  their  reg- 


234         STATE  BOARDS  OF  MUNICIPAL  CONTROL. 

ularity  was  certified  by  a  State  board  may  be  readily  assumed, 
and  has  been  urged  before  our  commissions  by  savings  bank 
presidents  and  others  directly  interested.  Nor  is  it  unreason- 
able to  hope  that  other  advantages,  both  to  the  cities  and  to  the 
people  at  large,  would  follow  from  the  institution  of  such  a  new 
organ  of  government,  and  this  may  very  probably  prove  to  be 
the  case  in  directions  which,  at  present,  perhaps,  escape  attention. 

The  disadvantages  of  the  proposed  law  are  quite  difficult  to 
imagine,  unless  it  be  assumed  from  the  beginning  that  unfit  men 
would  be  appointed  and  another  political  machine  created.  This 
objection  would,  however,  lie,  not  to  the  idea,  but  to  the  persons 
entrusted  with  its  execution,  and  would  be  equally  valid  against 
every  other  suggested  reform.  It  is,  indeed,  no  small  matter  to 
add  one  more  board  or  commission  to  the  long  list  of  such  com- 
missions established  in  a  State  like  New  York.  But  here,  again, 
the  extreme  importance  of  the  work  to  be  done,  and  the  improb- 
ability of  doing  it  in  any  other  way,  must  be  a  complete  justifi- 
cation. When  the  New  York  bill  was  first  introduced  some 
opposition  was  developed  in  various  cities  by  mayors  and  alder- 
men, who  feared  centralization  of  power  over  municipal  subjects 
in  this  small  board  at  Albany.  A  careful  examination  of  the 
bill,  however,  was  sufficient  to  cause  the  practical  withdrawal  of 
all  of  these  objections.  The  bill  could  much  more  properly  be 
described  as  a  measure  in  the  interest  of  home  rule,  for  its  most 
important  general  result  will  be  to  enable  the  people  of  each  city 
to  work  out  their  local  salvation  in  their  own  way,  thus  stimu- 
lating local  pride  by  checking  the  interference  of  the  legislature, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  giving  to  each  the  invaluable  assistance 
and  advantage  of  trustworthy  knowledge  and  experience  of  all 
their  sister  cities. 

We  do  not  claim,  however,  to  have  discovered  anything 
like  a  panacea.  The  American  student  of  politics  must  become 
painfully  aware  by  long  experience  that  the  stream  of  munici- 
pal government  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  source,  and  I  think 
every  member  of  the  two  commissions  which  recommended 
this  measure  was  imbued  from  the  outset  with  a  strong  distrust 


HON.    FREDERICK   W.    ROLLS.  235 

of  the  efficacy  of  any  legislation  to  cure  the  ills  of  the  body 
politic.  We  do  claim,  however,  that  the  experience  of  England 
and  the  given  facts  of  our  municipal  situation  in  this  country 
warrant  the  hope  that  the  State  municipal  government  board 
may  hereafter  become  a  recognized  institution  of  the  American 
commonwealth,  and  that  its  possibilities  for  good  give  it  a  well- 
founded  claim  upon  the  attention  of  municipal  reformers. 


236  THE   REFORM    OF   OUR    MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS. 


THE  REFORM  OF  OUR  MUNICIPAL  COUNCILS. 


HENRY  W.  WILLIAMS,  ESQ.,  BALTIMORE. 


The  necessity  for  the  reform  of  our  municipal  Councils,  if 
we  are  to  obtain  permanent  good  city  government,  has  been 
proved  by  the  experience  of  all  our  large  cities  and  is  now  rec- 
ognized by  all  citizens,  whether  reformers  or  not.  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Chicago,  and  so  on  indefinitely,  have  all  suffered 
alike  by  their  boards  of  retail  dealers  in  political  measures 
and  patronage,  called  by  courtesy  Councils;  but  none,  I  think, 
have  been  blessed  with  the  striking  object  lesson  vouch- 
safed us  here  in  Baltimore.  And  the  lesson  here  is  particularly 
instructive,  in  that  the  difficulty  is  not  the  conventional  venality 
of  such  bodies,  the  causes  of  which  are  sometimes  hard  to  trace ; 
but  simply  the  Councils'  marvelous  political  performances,  which, 
of  necessity,  have  their  origin  in  its  political  character  and  com- 
plexion. Last  fall,  by  superhuman  efforts,  the  city  of  Balti- 
more, in  the  fair  name  of  reform,  elected  a  Republican,  in  the 
place  of  the  old-time  Democratic  Council.  But  the  Republican 
members  were  nominated  by  the  same  methods  and  elected 
under  the  same  laws  which  had  been  in  such  large  measure  re- 
sponsible for  the  disreputable  Councils  of  the  past.  They  were 
nominated  at  ward  primaries  and  were  elected  because,  having 
been  so  nominated,  their  names  were  on  the  Republican  ticket, 
which,  through  the  reform  feeling,  carried  the  city  by  a  large 
majority.  They,  therefore,  like  their  predecessors,  were  the 
products  of  ward  politics,  and  were  the  representatives  not  of 
the  citizens  of  Baltimore  who  elected  them,  but  of  the  ward 
politicians  who  nominated  them.  Although  the  victory  was  a 
reform  victory,  nevertheless,  by  a  paradox  which  results  from 
our  method  of  electing  councilmen,  there  was  not  elected  a 


HENRY   W.    WILLIAMS.  237 


single  representative  of  the  independents,  or  even  of  the  reform 
Democrats  or  Republicans.     As  a  concession  to  the  better  ele- 
ment, most  of  the  Republicans  nominated  and  elected  were,  to 
the  extent  of  their   enlightenment,  honest   and   well-meaning 
enough,  yet,  as  products  of  ward  politics,  they,  like  their  Dem- 
ocratic predecessors,  demanded  as  of  their  natural  and  inalien- 
able right,  vested  through  immemorable  usage,  the  ear  of  the 
mayor  to  advise  as  to  the  appointments  of  the  heads  of  the  var- 
ious departments,  and  each  his  ward's  share  of  the  smaller  pat- 
ronage.    To  this  demand  the  mayor  turned  a  properly  deaf  ear, 
although  possibly  an  unfortunately  contemptuous  countenance, 
and  then  came  the  fight  for  the  spoils,  culminating  in  the  extra- 
ordinary attempt  of  the  City  Council  to  pull  them  through  a 
hole  in  the  city  charter.     The  town  was  scandalized,  especially 
that  portion   which   had   established   the  immemorial  custom 
which  the  Council  naturally  mistook  for  a  right.     I  say  nat- 
urally, because  nothing  else  was  to  be  expected.     So  long  as 
the  members  of  our  City  Council  are  elected  by  wards,  the 
nominees  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  leading  parties,  being  sure 
of  election,  so  long  will  such  nominees  represent  the  politicians 
that  control  the  primaries,  and  no  one  else.     They  are  not  se- 
lected by  the  suffrages  of  their  fellow-citizens  from  a  list  of  can- 
didates, by  reason  of  their   comparative    excellence,   but  are 
elected  solely  because  nominated  by  the  politicians  of  the  majority 
party  of  a  ward.     If,  therefore,  after  a  reform  victory,  we  are 
lucky  enough  to  find  the  products  of  such  a  process  honest,  yet 
we  will  surely  find  that  their  first  business  will  be,  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  such  ward  politicians,  to  play  ward  politics.     The 
citizens  of  Baltimore  should  not  have  been  surprised,  therefore, 
that  this  Republican  Council,  although  elected  by  the  reform 
sentiment,  should  have  played  the  same  kind  of  politics  as  its 
Democratic  predecessors.     And  as  for  expecting  a  Council,  the 
product  of  such  a  system,  to  handle  with  the  least  efficiency  the 
important  financial  and  industrial  affairs  of  a  great  city,  it  is 
simply  preposterous.     It  is  not  to  be;  expected  that  the  council- 
men  will   possess  the   necessary  qualifications    of  knowledge, 


238  THE    REFORM    OF   OUR    MUNICIPAL   COUNCILS. 

public  spirit  and  ability.  The  result  of  relying  upon  such  pro- 
cesses has  been,  as  we  all  know,  the  mismanagement  of  our 
cities  to  the  disgrace  of  our  country,  and  at  the  expense  of  the 
pockets,  comfort,  happiness,  health  and  convenience  of  the  res- 
idents, rich  and  poor,  Democrats,  Republicans  and  Independents. 

Such  being  the  situation,  what  then  is  the  remedy  ?  The 
tendency  of  municipal  reformers  has  been  to  meet  this  weakness 
of  the  Council  by  magnifying  the  office  of  the  mayor,  hoping 
by  thus  forcing  the  attention  of  the  people  upon  an  office  of 
great  power  and  corresponding  responsibility,  to  elevate  it,  and, 
in  spite  of  the  Council,  to  thereby  improve  the  municipal  adminis- 
tration. But  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  remedy  may  prove  worse 
than  the  disease.  A  good  mayor  is  essential  to  good  govern- 
ment, but  after  all  the  mayor  is  but  the  executive,  can  but  exe- 
cute the  city  ordinances,  and  cannot,  of  his  own  power,  dis- 
charge the  more  important  functions  of  a  municipal  government. 
A  city  exists  (among  other  things)  to  protect  the  health,  life, 
person  and  property  of  its  citizens,  to  furnish  them,  or  to  have 
them  furnished,  with  light,  water  and  transportation,  to  maintain 
streets,  alleys  and  public  parks.  Some  corporate  body  must  de- 
termine how  and  at  what  cost  these  various  ends  are  to  be  at- 
tained. To  bestow  this  power  upon  the  mayor,  to  have  him  not 
only  execute  laws  but  also  enact  them,  and  thus  determine  the 
policy  of  the  city,  is  not  only  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  insti- 
tutions, but  would  be  absurd.  This  is  a  representative  govern- 
ment, and  these  matters  of  policy  and  finance  must  be  deter- 
mined by  a  representative  body.  I  can  imagine  a  city  adminis- 
tered by  a  Council  whose  chairman  should  act  as  executive,  but 
I  cannot  imagine  a  modern  municipality  controlled  and  man- 
aged, its  policy  determined,  its  money  collected  and  spent  by 
one  man,  no  matter  who  he  may  be  or  how  elected. 

One  man  cannot  represent  the  people;  can  neither  meet 
their  wants  nor  respond  to  their  demands.  One-man  power  is, 
in  its  nature,  irresponsible,  and  must  lead  to  greater  abuses  than 
even  the  weakest  kind  of  representative  government.  And  ex- 
perience is  with  us  here.  The  policies  of  the  successful  munic- 


HENRY    W.    WILLIAMS.  239 


ipalities  of  the  Old  World  are  not  determined  by  one,  two  or 
three  men,  but  by  representative  bodies  of  citizens.     I  am  not  to 
be  understood,  however,  as  advocating  any  interference  with  the 
executive  powers  of  the  mayor.     On  the  contrary,  a  strong  ex- 
ecutive is  as  important  as  a  strong  Council.     Even  if  elected  by 
the  Council,  as  in  some  foreign  municipalities,  he  must  be  vested 
with  the  executive  powers.     But  let  us  only  substitute  for  our 
present  weak  and  often  venal  Councils  bodies  composed  largely 
of  strong,  public-spirited  and  representative  men,  and  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  executive  will  follow.     With  a  competent  Council, 
supervising  through  its  committees  the  various  city  departments, 
the  present  inefficiency  and  wastefulness  of  our  municipal  ad- 
ministration would  be  an  impossibility,  and  we  would  be  able, 
not  only  to  reform  and  perfect  the  existing  municipal  depart- 
ments, but  to  take  up  such  questions  as  the  municipal  control 
of  light  and  transportation,  with  the  assurance  that  if  such  con- 
trol were  assumed  it  would  be  exercised  wisely  and  beneficently. 
But  how  are  we  to  obtain  such  Councils  ?     It  cannot  be 
objected  that  it  is  impracticable,  for  what  has  been  done  we  can 
do.     But  we  will  have  to  recognize  and  meet  the  existing  polit- 
ical situation.     It  is  to  be  noted  first,  however,  that  the  Council 
should  consist  of  one  body  and  not  of  two.     The  reason  for  the 
division  of  legislative  assemblies  into  two  bodies  is  to  prevent 
political  revolutions,  otherwise,  however,  such  division  but  ham- 
pers and  impedes  ordinary  business,  and,  by  dividing  the  respon- 
sibility, subjects  public  affairs  to  the  blighting  influence  of  polit- 
ical  deals  and  tricks.     Playing  politics  is,  as  a  rule,  the  only 
occupation  of  two  branches  of  an  assembly  when  pitted  against 
each  other.     But  municipal  Councils   are   not   political  bodies 
and  have  no  political  power  for  good  or  evil.     They  are  but  the 
directorates  of  the  most  influential  corporations  of  the  day.  Their 
functions,  although  as  stated,  broad  and  of  great  importance,  are 
strictly  limited  to  directing  the  policy  and  supervising  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  internal  affairs  of  the  city,  and  their  duties, 
therefore,  can  only  be   properly   discharged   through   various 
committees,  which,  under  the  direction  of  the  entire  body,  shall 


24O  THE    REFORM    OF   OUR    MUNICIPAL   COUNCILS. 

devote  themselves  to  the  careful  investigation  of  municipal 
questions  and  to  the  supervision  of  the  different  municipal  de- 
partments. The  Council,  therefore,  should  not  consist  of  two 
political  bodies,  playing  politics  for  political  capital,  but  should 
be  a  business  body  of  a  sufficient  number  of  men  to  attend, 
through  its  various  committees,  to  the  municipal  affairs.  And, 
evidently,  in  order  to  give  the  body  a  certain  permanency  and 
thus  prevent  sudden  and  ill-considered  changes  of  municipal 
policy  its  members  should  not  be  elected  all  in  any  one  year, 
but  not  more  than  one-half  of  them  at  a  time. 

But  after  all  is  said  and  done  the  essential,  the  all-important 
one  thing  (be  the  Council  organized  as  it  may)  is  that  the  coun- 
cilmen  should  be  largely  representative,  able  and  public-spirited 
men.  For  what's  the  gain  if  the  Council  be  reorganized  and 
yet  represents  not  the  progressive  intelligence  of  the  commu- 
nity, but  then,  as  now,  the  ward  politicians  ?  A  good  city 
councilman  cannot  be  made  from  a  small-fry  ward  politician. 
If  we  are  to  get  our  Councils  out  of  ward  politics  we  must  get 
our  ward  politicians  out  of  our  Councils  ;  and  this,  I  believe,  in 
the  existing  political  situation  can  be  done  in  but  one  way,  and 
that  is  by  the  total  abolition  of  ward  lines  and  the  election  of  all 
members  of  the  Council  upon  a  general  ticket  so  as  to  secure  the 
proper  representation  of  the  entire  electorate  and  each  political 
division  thereof.  At  present,  as  we  have  seen,  the  councilmen 
are  nominated  at  ward  primaries  by  the  ward  politician,  and  the 
nominees  of  one  set  of  politicians  or  of  the  other  are  sure  of 
election  ;  and  we  have  what  we  have.  But  if  the  candidates 
were  nominated  regardless  of  ward  lines  by  city  primaries,  party 
convention,  independent  lists  or  otherwise  and  then  elected  on  a 
general  ticket,  the  votes  being  so  counted  that  each  party  or  in- 
dependent organization  should  be  represented  in  the  Council  by 
the  leading  candidates  upon  its  ticket  to  the  number  to  which 
its  total  vote  showed  it  to  be  proportionately  entitled,  then  would 
not  only  each  party.  Republican  and  Democratic,  elect  the  num- 
ber of  representatives  to  which  their  constituency  entitled  them, 
but  so  would  also  the  Labor  party,  the  Prohibitionist  and  the 


HENRY   W.    WILLIAMS.  24! 


Independents.  But  even  more  important  than  this,  the  candi- 
dates of  each  organization  would  compete  among  themselves 
and  thus  the  best-known  and  best-equipped  men  nominated 
would  be  almost  sure  of  election  at  the  expense  of  the  old- 
fashioned  ward  politician.  What  we  should  thus  obtain  would 
be  a  representative  Council,  not  an  ideal  Council,  but  a  Councit 
really  representative  of  the  various  elements  of  the  community 
instead  of,  as  now,  merely  representative  of  the  ward  politicians 
who  control  the  ward  primaries.  And  it  is  not  as  difficult  as  it 
would  seem  to  bring  about  this  result,  which  would  work  such 
a  revolution  in  our  municipal  governments.  In  this  State,  for 
instance,  no  constitutional  amendment  would  be  required,  but 
merely  an  act  of  legislature  abolishing  the  wards,  and  direct- 
ing that  the  councilmen  should  be  voted  for  on  a  general  ticket 
and  the  votes  then  counted  in  a  simple  and  perfectly  just  manner. 
It  evidently  would  not  do  to  declare  elected  all  the  candidates 
on  the  ticket  which  received  the  majority  of  votes,  for  that  would 
deprive  all  but  the  majority  party  of  all  representation,  and  our 
last  state  would  be  worse  than  our  first.  So  the  practice  has 
been  adopted  in  some  other  countries  and  localities,  and  ap- 
proved by  the  Proportional  Representation  League,  of  first  ap- 
portioning the  number  of  representatives  (that  is  councilmen)  to 
be  elected  among  the  various  parties  and  organizations  accord- 
ing to  the  number  of  votes  cast  for  each  ticket,  and  then  count- 
ing the  votes  for  the  various  candidates  on  each  ticket  to  deter- 
mine which  of  such  candidates,  as  among  themselves,  have  been 
elected  to  fill  such  positions.  The  various  parties  or  organiza- 
tions would,  under  this  practice,  nominate  by  convention,  en- 
dorsement list,  or,  indeed,  in  any  legal  manner  they  preferred, 
as  many  candidates  as  there  were  councilmen  to  be  elected,  and 
the  names  of  such  candidates  would  then,  as  now,  be  printed 
upon  the  ballots  under  the  title  of  the  office  in  the  proper  party 
or  independent  column.  No  change  would  be  made  in  the 
method  of  voting.  Each  voter  would  be  allowed  to  vote  for  as 
many  candidates  as  there  were  councilmen  to  be  elected,  and 
would  do  so  by  stamping  the  party  emblem  if  he  desired  to  vote 


242  THE   REFORM   OF   OUR    MUNICIPAL   COUNCILS. 

straight,  or  if  not  by  stamping  the  names  of  the  candidates  for 
whom  he  desired  to  vote.     For  convenience,  however,  if  the 
voter  desired  to  vote  for  a  few  candidates  on  other  tickets  and 
to  cast  the  balance  of  his  votes  for  his  party  ticket,  he  would  be 
permitted  to  do  so  by  marking  such  candidates  and  then  stamp- 
ing his  party  emblem.     And  here  the  work  of  the  voter  ends. 
So  we  see  that  as  far  as  he  is  concerned  there  is  absolutely  noth- 
ing novel  in  the  system.     He  nominates  and  votes  for  his  can- 
didates in  the  same  old  familiar  way.     But  as  the  result  we  de- 
sire to  attain  is  that  each  party  or  independent  organization 
should  be  represented  by  the  number  of  councilmen  to  which  it 
shows  itself  by  its  vote  to  be  proportionately  entitled,  the  votes 
must  evidently  be  first  counted  for  the  various  tickets  to  deter- 
mine such  number.     It  is  in  this  count  that  the  entire  novelty  of 
the  system  consists.     And  this  novelty  consists  simply  in  this : 
That  each  ticket  is  first  credited  with  the  full  number  of  votes 
cast  for  the  various  candidates  thereon,  a  vote  for  the  emblem 
being  counted  for  the  full  number  of  councilmen  to  be  elected, 
less,  of  course,  any  votes  the  elector  may  have  cast  for  candi- 
dates on  other  tickets.     The  votes  being  thus  counted  the  num- 
ber of  councilmen  elected  on  each  ticket  is  determined  by  the 
ratio  of  the  vote  cast  for  such  ticket  to  the  total  vote  cast,  and 
the  candidates  upon  each  ticket  to  such  number  receiving  the 
highest  number  of  votes  are  thereupon  declared  elected. 

Let  us  suppose,  for  example,  that,  as  in  this  city,  there  are 
twenty-two  councilmen  to  be  elected,  and,  tickets  being  nomi- 
nated by  the  Democrats,  Republicans,  Labor  Party,  Independ- 
ents and  Prohibitionists,  100,000  ballots  are  cast.  There  being 
twenty-two  candidates,  of  course  the  total  vote  cast  for  all  of 
them  would  aggregate  twenty-two  hundred  thousand,  of  which, 
we  will  assume,  the  candidates  on  the  Republican  ticket  receive 
900,000,  on  the  Democratic  900,000,  on  the  Labor  100,000,  on 
the  Independent  200,000  and  on  the  Prohibition  party  100,000. 
Evidently  the  councilmen  should  and  would  be  apportioned 
among  the  various  parties  in  like  ratio — that  is,  the  Democrats 
and  Republicans  would  each  elect  the  nine,  the  Independents 


HENRY   W.    WILLIAMS.  243 


the  two,  and  the  Labor  and  Prohibition  parties  each  the  one 
candidate  on  their  respective  tickets  receiving  the  highest  num- 
ber of  votes.  Each  party  and  independent  organization,  there- 
fore, would  not  only  be  represented  in  the  Council  by  the  num- 
ber of  councilmen  to  which  it  was  proportionately  entitled,  but 
the  representatives  of  each  party  would  be  selected  from  among 
all  its  candidates  by  the  voters  themselves  at  the  polls. 

As  it  is  readily  seen,  the  system  above  suggested  is  not  in 
any  sense  a  decided  departure  from  the  system  of  voting  now 
in  vogue  for  many  offices.  The  members  of  the  legislature  in 
this  State  are  so  elected.  Baltimore  City  is  divided  into  three 
legislative  districts,  each  of  which  elects  six  members  of  the 
legislature.  Each  party,  therefore,  under  the  present  practice, 
nominates  in  each  district  six  candidates,  and  each  voter  casts 
his  ballot  for  six;  or,  in  other  words,  casts  six  votes  for  such 
candidates,  one  for  each,  just  as  in  the  illustration  given,  each 
voter  was  supposed  to  have  cast  a  ballot  for  twenty-two  mem- 
bers of  the  City  Council,  or  what  is  the  same  thing,  to  have 
cast  twenty-two  votes  for  such  members,  one  for  each.  The 
suggested  system,  therefore,  is  nothing  after  all  but  the  applica- 
tion to  the  City  Council  of  a  system  of  voting  familiar  to  us  all, 
the  vote  being  then  counted  in  a  manner  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  a  municipal  election  for  councilmen.  And  this  con- 
tinuity of  method  is  important,  in  that  the  people  are  properly 
slow  to  accept  radical  changes,  but  are  usually  willing  to  further 
the  extension  of  methods  and  practices  with  which  they  are 
familiar.  But  in  the  discussion  of  the  method  we  should  not 
lose  sight  of  the  purpose — the  reform  of  our  City  Council. 
Let  us  consider,  therefore,  to  what  extent  the  reform  suggested 
will  meet  the  existing  political  situation. 

Under  the  present  system  of  ward  representation  the  entire 
community  is  at  the  mercy  of  the  ward  boss.  By  the  rear- 
rangement of  ward  lines,  called  a  gerrymander,  a  party  in  power 
can  so  divide  a  city  that  it  can  subsequently,  through  the  Coun- 
cil, thwart  public  sentiment — even  if  backed  by  a  majority  of 
votes.  But  without  reference  to  the  possible  evils  of  the  gerry- 


244  THE   REFORM    OF   OUR   MUNICIPAL   COUNCILS. 

mander,  it  is  a  necessity  of  the  situation  that  any  attempt  to 
work  for  good  government,  except  through  the  national  parties, 
is  entirely  hopeless.  The  Independents,  the  Prohibitionists,  the 
Labor  Party  are  alike  unable  to  take  any  effective  independent 
action.  All  these  organizations  may  have  large  followings,  suf- 
ficiently large  to  entitle  them  by  right  to  representation,  but 
these  followings  are  scattered  throughout  the  entire  city,  and  if 
any  such  organization  is  rash  enough  to  nominate  a  ticket,  it  is 
sure  to  be  beaten  in  the  various  wards  by  the  national  party 
which  happens  to  control  them  ;  while  on  the  contrary,  if  the 
contest  were  to  be  made  throughout  the  entire  city  such  organ- 
ization could  concentrate  its  strength  and  thus  elect  the  number 
of  representatives  to  which  its  constituency  entitled  it.  Under 
the  present  system,  therefore,  for  any  but  the  national  organi- 
zations to  nominate  a  ticket  is  but  to  court  discouraging  defeat 
at  the  hands  of  the  ward  politicians,  while  under  the  system 
suggested  any  organization  could  nominate  a  ticket  for  the 
Council  and  obtain  its  proper  representation.  As  a  result  of  the 
present  unfortunate  situation,  we  reformers,  if  we  wish  to  obtain 
this  or  that  particular  reform,  are  compelled  to  almost  betray 
our  cause  and  play  into  the  hands  of  one  party  or  the  other- 
If,  however,  ward  lines  were  abolished  we  could  at  once  inde- 
pendently of  such  parties  elect  our  representatives  to  the  Coun- 
cil, there  not  only  to  hold  the  politicians  in  check,  but  also  to 
make  publicly  the  people's  fight  for  the  honest  and  efficient  ad- 
ministration of  municipal  affairs.  Under  present  circumstances 
it  is  impossible  to  organize  a  municipal  party  not  doomed  to 
immediate  defeat,  to  the  discouragement  of  the  reformers,  while 
under  the  system  suggested  such  party  would  be  certain  of  suf- 
ficient immediate  success,  through  the  election  of  one  or  more 
councilmen,  to  carry  the  fight  for  good  government  into  the 
Council  itself,  where  such  representatives  would  be  in  a  position 
through  their  good  work  to  so  commend  the  party  and  its  pur- 
poses to  the  people  that  it  would  be  able,  gradually  but  surely, 
to  bring  about  the  permanent  improvement  of  our  municipal 
government.  But  the  beneficial  effects  of  the  suggested  reform 


HENRY    W.    WILLIAMS.  24$ 


would  be  felt  at  once,  even  if  the  full  realization  of  our  hopes 
was  long  delayed.  The  standard  of  the  Council  would  be  im- 
mediately raised  by  the  presence  of  several  members,  capable, 
energetic  and  well-informed,  whose  sole  aim  would  be  good 
government.  Even  as  our  Councils  are  now  constituted,  the 
presence  of  a  few  such  men  would  be  an  immeasurable  gain, 
but  under  the  system  suggested  their  usefulness  would  be  much 
increased,  as  the  national  parties  would  not  only  be  more  equally 
balanced,  but  would  each  be  represented  by  a  better  class  of 
men.  In  this  connection  it  is  of  interest  to  note  that  if  the 
present  Council  of  this  city  had  been  elected  as  suggested,  its 
unfortunate  course  would  have  been  an  impossibility.  There 
were  twenty-two  members  of  the  first  branch  of  the  City  Coun- 
cil elected,  100,692  votes  being  cast,  of  which  the  Republicans 
received  53,183,  the  Democrats  45,176,  and  the  Prohibitionist 
and  Social-Labor  Party  the  remainder.  Even,  therefore,  if 
there  had  been  no  other  nominations  and  no  change  in  the  vote, 
under  the  system  of  proportional  representation  the  Democrats 
would  have  elected  ten  and  the  Republicans  twelve  members  of 
the  City  Council,  while  as  it  was,  through  our  ward  system,  the 
Republicans  elected  eighteen  and  the  Democrats  but  four,  and 
it  was  only  this  overwhelming  majority  that  enabled  the  Repub- 
lican spoilsmen  to  carry  their  point.  But  it  may  be  safely  as- 
sumed that,  except  for  the  domination  of  the  city  by  the  ward 
politicians,  the  Independent,  and,  possibly,  the  Labor  and  Prohi- 
bition parties,  would  have  each  elected  representatives,  who,  in 
all  probability,  would  have  held  the  balance  of  the  power;  in  which 
case,  instead  of  the  present  unfortunate  Council  we  would  have 
had  probably  the  best  Council  the  city  has  known  for  many 
years. 

I  have  only  had  opportunity  here  to  note  in  the  most  cur- 
sory way  a  few  of  the  beneficial  results  which  would  follow  from 
the  abolition  of  ward  lines  and  the  election  of  the  members  of 
the  City  Council  upon  a  general  ticket  in  the  manner  suggested. 
But  these  benefits  do  not,  in  fact,  need  to  be  recited  at  any 
length.  Every  one,  I  think,  realizes  that  the  bane  of  our  munic- 


246  THE    REFORM    OF   OUR    MUNICIPAL   COUNCILS. 

ipal  governments  is  the  ward  politician,  and  his  ability  through 
our  ward  system  to  impose  his  creatures  upon  us  as  our  repre- 
sentatives. Everybody,  I  think,  must  realize,  as  soon  as  it  is  sug- 
gested, the  great  advantage  of  having  a  Council  representative, 
not  of  the  ward  politicians,  but  of  the  entire  community,  the 
members  being  selected  by  the  people  themselves  from  all 
the  candidates  nominated  by  the  various  parties.  Such  a  Coun- 
cil would  be  so  immeasurably  superior  to  any  that  we  have 
known  in  this  country  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  present  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  it,  but  merely  to  discuss  the  practical  question 
of  how  we  are  to  obtain  it.  I  believe  myself  the  people  of  our 
cities  have  only  submitted  to  the  Councils  which  have  misruled 
and  misrepresented  them  because  they  saw  no  way  of  escape 
from  the  ward  politician,  and  I  believe  that  if  we  properly 
present  to  the  people  the  opportunity  at  one  stroke  to  rid  them- 
selves both  of  the  ward  politician  and  his  creature,  the  ward 
councilman,  they  will  grasp  it  and  thus  give  us  City  Councils 
which  will  put  our  city  governments  upon  a  much  higher  plane. 
I  would,  therefore,  urge  upon  this  body  of  municipal  reformers 
this  special,  all-important  reform.  I  urge  its  advocacy  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  as  it  is  only  by  reiteration  that  such  causes 
are  won.  We  cannot  expect  to  win  in  a  day  or  in  a  year ;  we 
fought  long  for  ballot  reform  and  won,  long  for  civil  service  re- 
form, and  elsewhere  have  won,  and  are  here  on  the  eve  of 
victory.  Let  us  now  direct  our  fight  against  ward  politics  and 
the  ward  politician,  and  never  stop  until,  through  the  abolition 
of  ward  lines  and  the  election  of  our  councilmen  upon  a  general 
ticket,  we  obtain  municipal  Councils,  representatives,  not  of  the 
ward  politicians,  but  of  the  intelligence  and  honesty  of  our 
municipalities. 


SHALL   WE    HAVE    ONE    OR    TWO    LEGISLATIVE   CHAMBERS?    247 


SHALL  WE  HAVE  ONE  OR  TWO  LEGISLATIVE 
CHAMBERS? 


SAMUEL   B.  CAPEN,  ESQ., 
PRESIDENT,  BOSTON  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE. 


I  have  doubtless  been  asked  to  speak  upon  this  subject 
because  one  of  the  changes  in  the  city  charter,  which  the  Munic- 
ipal League  of  Boston  has  been  advocating  the  past  two  years, 
is  the  substitution  of  one  legislative  body  in  the  place  of  our 
present  bicameral  system.  It  possibly  will  be  more  practical  if 
I,  therefore,  discuss  it  from  the  Boston  standpoint. 

We  have  first  a  Board  of  Aldermen  of  twelve  men,  chosen 
upon  a  general  ticket,  no  voter  being  allowed  to  cast  a  ballot  for 
over  seven  men.  This  gives  minority  but  not  proportional 
representation.  It  was  supposed  when  this  legislation  was  en- 
acted a  few  years  ago  that  the  political  parties  would  nominate 
each  a  full  list  of  twelve  men,  which  would  give  some  freedom 
to  the  voter  when  he  came  to  cast  his  ballot.  But  as  a  matter 
of  fact  the  parties  nominate  but  seven  men  each,  so  that  twelve 
out  of  the  fourteen  nominated  by  the  two  principal  parties  are 
certain  of  election.  Mayor  Quincy  has  put  the  truth  very  com- 
pactly in  the  statement  that  the  only  thing  the  voters  can  do  is 
to  say  which  two  of  fourteen  men  nominated  they  will  reject. 
You  do  not  wonder  that  our  citizens,  with  the  exception  of  the 
politicians  pure  and  simple,  are  dissatisfied  with  this  plan. 

Second,  we  have  a  Common  Council  of  seventy-five  mem- 
bers, chosen  by  districts  from  the  twenty-five  wards  of  the  city, 
from  whom  most  of  the  power  was  taken  by  the  charter  changes 
of  1895  ;  and  whose  usefulness,  therefore,  with  its  limited  power, 
is  practically  at  an  end.  Both  bodies  are  now  chosen  for  a 
term  of  but  one  year. 


248   SHALL   WE    HAVE   ONE   OR   TWO    LEGISLATIVE   CHAMBERS? 

The  change  proposed  by  the  Municipal  League  is  to  abolish 
both  bodies,  as  now  constituted,  and  substitute  therefor  one  new 
body  of  twenty-seven  members,  chosen  for  a  term  of  three  years, 
one-third  to  be  chosen  each  year,  and  to  be  called  a  Board  of 
City  Councillors.  We  have  placed  the  number  at  twenty-seven, 
as  one  sufficiently  large  not  to  be  easily  corrupted,  and  yet  not 
so  numerous  as  to  degenerate  into  a  debating  society  instead  of 
a  business  body.  Our  proposition  has  been  to  pay  a  salary  of 
$3000  to  each  member  and  no  expenses  to  be  allowed  to  the 
members  for  carriages,  refreshments  or  any  other  personal  ex- 
penses. We  believe  it  would  be  economy  for  our  city  to  pay  a 
salary  commensurate  with  the  importance  of  the  work  to  be 
done.  Cheap  service  is  usually  expensive  service  in  the  end ; 
the  best  is  usually  the  most  economical. 

Our  bill  further  provides  that  this  board  shall  be  chosen  by 
proportional  representation,  following  quite  closely  the  so-called 
free  list  system. 

What  municipal  reformers  everywhere  are  trying  to  accom- 
plish is  to  get  our  city  governments  away  from  a  political  and 
upon  a  sound  business  basis.  We  have  been  nominating  munic- 
ipal officers  and  voting  for  them  along  national  party  lines  be- 
cause they  are  Republicans  and  Democrats,  and  have  con- 
structed our  municipal  machinery  after  the  national  pattern 
of  a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  We  are  wrong  at 
both  points.  A  nation  or  a  commonwealth  which  covers  large 
areas  of  territory  and  which  has  varied  interests,  agricultural, 
manufacturing  and  commercial,  may  wisely  be  governed  by  two 
bodies.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  the  government  of  a  city 
which  is  a  corporation  should  need  two  boards  of  directors  any 
more  than  a  railroad  corporation  or  a  trust  company. 

There  are  three  reasons  we  would  urge  why  we  believe  a 
single  body  of  the  moderate  size  we  have  proposed  to  be  better 
than  two : — 

First. — It  will  give  us  a  more  efficient  government.  As  is 
often  seen  in  our  national  government,  so  in  the  legislative  bod- 
ies of  our  cities,  there  are  often  petty  jealousies  and  a  constant 


SAMUEL    B.    CAPEN.  249 


working  at  cross  purposes.  In  one  branch  the  Republicans 
may  have  a  majority  and  in  the  other  the  Democrats,  and  so  we 
have  the  unseemly  spectacle  of  legislation  introduced  or  hin- 
dered, as  the  case  may  be,  because  of  its  effect  politically.  The 
thought  of  being  trustees  of  a  great  corporation  is  forgotten 
entirely. 

Second. — We  believe  a  single  board  always  tends  to  economy 
of  administration.  The  second  body  often  increases,  it  rarely 
«ver  diminishes,  public  expenditure.  In  order  to  bring  the  two 
bodies  into  harmony  and  get  the  required  number  of  votes  it  is 
almost  always  necessary  to  appropriate  large  sums  of  money  to 
be  spent  in  the  districts  of  various  members  for  their  selfish  and 
personal  interests  and  not  because  of  the  public  necessities. 
The  local  "  boss  "  must  be  placated  and  appropriation  bills  are 
"  held  up  "  until  his  demands  are  satisfied.  It  is  very  expensive 
to  harmonize  legislative  bodies  when  they  are  composed  of  much 
of  the  material  we  have  in  power  in  our  great  cities. 

Third. — We  believe  a  single  legislative  chamber  would  help 
to  define  responsibility.  All  joint  committees  would,  of  course, 
be  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  the  voters  would  be  able  to  see  with- 
out any  chance  of  mistake  just  who  is  responsible  for  all  legis- 
lation, where  the  blame  rests  when  things  go  wrong,  and  thus 
makes  it  possible  to  apply  the  remedy  at  the  polls.  The  whole 
science  of  government  is  in  this  direction  of  providing  such  a 
system  as  shall  make  responsibility  clear  and  distinct.  We  are 
reducing  commissions  of  three  men,  whenever  possible,  to  single 
commissioners  for  this  reason.  The  change  we  advocate  would, 
of  course,  give  greater  power  to  one  board ;  but  it  is  safe,  be- 
cause with  the  greater  power  comes  the  definite  responsibility, 
with  no  chance  of  shifting  this  upon  others.  Our  great  business 
corporations  achieve  their  greatest  successes  by  making  the 
work  of  subordinates  very  exact  and  holding  them  to  a  rigid 
account.  We  shall  succeed  in  municipal  government  as  we 
hold  most  closely  to  this  idea.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
world  to  the  present  hour  Adam  wants  to  find  an  Eve  upon 
whom  to  put  the  blame  for  his  sin.  Eve,  in  turn,  puts  it  off 


25O   SHALL  WE   HAVE  ONE   OR  TWO    LEGISLATIVE   CHAMBERS? 

upon  the  Devil.  We  want  a  system  which  will  enable  us  to 
know,  without  inquiring  and  at  once,  whether  the  mischief 
originated  with  Adam  or  Eve  or  the  Devil. 

There  is  one  objection  which  is  sometimes  urged  to  a  single 
board  which  ought  to  be  noticed,  viz.,  that  you  run  the  risk  of 
hasty  action  and  do  away  with  the  check  which  comes  through 
a  second  body.  But  we  have  provided  this  safeguard  in  our  bill 
in  a  Board  of  Apportionment.  This  board  is  to  consist  of  the 
mayor,  the  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Councillors,  the  auditor 
and  the  two  senior  members  of  the  Sinking  Fund  Commis- 
sioners. All  estimates  of  the  various  departments  at  the  begin- 
ning of  each  year  must  be  submitted  to  the  board.  Every  ex- 
penditure of  money  must  first  be  approved  by  them,  and  cannot 
be  changed  except  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  whole  Council 
and  the  approval  of  the  mayor.  We  also  provide  that  "  no 
order  authorizing  a  loan  or  expenditure  of  money  or  authoriz- 
ing the  granting  of  any  franchise  affecting  the  use  of  the  public 
streets  shall  have  its  second  reading  until  six  days,  including 
Sunday,  shall  have  elapsed  after  its  first  reading." 

We  believe  that  such  a  board  of  twenty-seven  men  as  we 
advocate,  plus  a  small  Board  of  Apportionment  of  five  men, 
would  be  a  better  safeguard  to  the  finances  of  the  city  than  we 
have  to-day  with  our  two  boards  as  now  constituted. 

It  certainly  is  germane  to  this  question  to  point  briefly  to 
the  experience  abroad.  We  know  that,  as  a  rule,  the  cities  of 
Europe  are  as  conspicuous  for  good  municipal  government  as 
the  cities  of  America  are  for  inefficiency  and  corruption,  and 
not  a  single  great  city  in  Europe  has  the  bicameral  system.  The 
universal  custom  there  is  for  the  voters  to  choose  a  single  body 
called  Councillors,  who  choose  from  among  their  own  number, 
usually,  an  Executive  Committee,  whom  they  call  Aldermen. 
But  the  whole  power  rests  with  this  single  body  and  to  whom 
the  Aldermen  are  responsible.  The  principle  is  exactly  the  same 
as  we  employ  to  govern  our  great  business  corporations.  The 
Single  Board  of  Directors  (called  councillors),  chooses  a  chair- 
man (called  the  mayor  or  burgomaster)  and  an  Executive  Com- 


SAMUEL    B.    CAPEN.  25! 


mittee  (called  aldermen).  Under  such  a  plan  there  is  no  divi- 
sion of  responsibility  and  no  conflict  of  authority.  Why  should 
not  America  follow  in  a  path  which  has  led  to  such  brilliant  suc- 
cess in  the  old  world,  and  which  commends  itself  to  our  reason 
and  to  common  sense  ? 

When  the  town  of  Boston  became  a  city  its  first  charter 
was  a  compromise.  The  Board  of  Aldermen  was  provided  to 
take  the  place  of  the  former  board  of  selectmen  and  the  Com- 
mon Council  was  to  represent  the  people.  But  in  the  changes 
which  have  been  constantly  made  the  executive  work  of  the  old 
selectmen  is  now  performed  by  the  mayor.  What  we  need, 
therefore,  and  all  we  need  for  legislative  purposes,  is  a  good 
working  body,  which  shall  be  in  touch  with  all  the  people.  We 
need  the  best  representatives  from  the  great  financial  and  busi- 
ness and  labor  interests,  sitting  together  with  a  single  aim  to 
promote  the  public  welfare.  It  will  be  a  great  step  in  this  direc- 
tion when  we  abolish  all  methods  and  machinery  which  remind 
us  of  national  politics  and  consider  the  business  of  our  cities  as 
a  great  trust,  to  be  administered  upon  business  principles.  Then, 
and  then  only,  shall  we  rid  ourselves  of  the  petty  and  scheming 
and  selfish  politicians  of  all  parties  and  make  it  possible  for  our 
best  citizens  to  do  honorable  service  in  making  the  cities  where 
they  live  more  and  more  like  a  City  of  God. 


252  A   SINGLE   OR   A    DOUBLE   COUNCIL  ? 


A  SINGLE  OR  A   DOUBLE  COUNCIL? 


JOHN  A.  BUTLER,  ESQ., 
PRESIDENT,  MILWAUKEE  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE. 


I  venture  to  assume,  in  discussing  the  question  of  a  single 
or  a  double  Council,  that  the  intention  is  to  secure  breadth  of 
treatment,  and  arrive,  by  comparison  of  views  and  observation, 
at  some  approximate  general  standard,  rather  than  to  take  abso- 
lute and  positive  ground  in  favor  of  one  side  or  the  other  as 
the  question  stands. 

It  is  probably  worded  as  perfectly  as  possible,  but  its  ade- 
quate consideration  necessitates  the  examination  of  certain  con- 
ditions not  implied  in  the  literal  statement  of  the  question,  but 
which  seriously  affect  a  useful  discussion  of  its  merits. 

It  is  conceivable,  for  instance,  that  two  chambers  improp- 
erly constituted  might  merely  multiply,  and  a  single  chamber 
simply  lessen  the  extent  of  evils,  the  absolute  removal  of  which 
is  essential  to  good  government. 

It  is  also  possible  that  conditions  which  make  a  single 
chamber  more  or  less  efficient  and  safe,  and  a  double  Council 
more  or  less  necessary,  when  their  proper  character  has  been 
ascertained,  may  vary  in  different  cities. 

The  intimate  personal  relations  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  small 
community,  the  unavoidable  publicity  of  official  acts,  and  the 
consequent  pressure  of  public  opinion  go  far  toward  securing 
good  government,  without  reference  to  the  artificial  machinery 
essential  elsewhere.  I  am  inclined  to  think  also  that  argument 
and  contention  are  far  less  essential  here  than  the  amplification 
of  fundamental  ideas  and  facts,  and,  above  all,  a  clear  and  com- 
prehensive statement  of  the  case. 

Is  a  single-chamber  council  adequate  ?     Should  it  be  exec- 


JOHN    A.    BUTLER.  25$ 


utive  in  its  character  ?  What  are  its  limitations  as  an  execu- 
tive or  legislative  body,  or  both  ?  How  will  a  properly-consti- 
tuted double  council  provide  a  remedy  ?  How  should  it  be 
constituted  to  provide  that  remedy  ?  What  should  be  the 
powers  and  limitations  of  a  double  council,  and  what  distribu- 
tion and  balance  of  powers  should  exist  in  the  city  government, 
as  a  whole,  in  order  to  add  to  the  efficacy  of  each  and  all  de- 
partments ? 

The  matter  hinges  obviously  upon  a  variety  of  contingen- 
cies. It  even  involves  a  consideration  of  population  and  na- 
tional and  race  traditions. 

First  of  all  it  is  necessary  to  get  our  bearings  and  catch 
the  thread  of  historical  development,  that  underlying,  though 
unwritten  law  which  will  shape  and  determine  the  form  of  city 
government  eventually  in  spite  of  all  our  theories,  though  it 
may  operate  through  our  efforts. 

The  present  government  of  cities  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  mere 
episode,  largely  eccentric  and  artificial,  in  a  process  of  forma- 
tion. 

Our  national  institutions,  culminated  by  a  process  of  crys- 
tallization, so  to  speak,  after  centuries  of  preparation,  and  the 
men  who  framed  the  Constitution,  were  only  the  final  instrument 
in  an  historic  process  of  growth. 

May  there  not  be  some  guiding  line  of  thought  here,  some 
race  tendency  which  marks  a  sort  of  constitutional  fitness  and 
necessity  which  we  can  no  more  escape  than  a  tree  can  escape  its 
root  hold  and  nourishment  in  the  soil  ?  Is  not  the  movement  for 
reform  a  movement  of  readjustment,  or  perhaps  better  still,  a  clari- 
fying process  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  the  essential  good  and 
remove  extraneous  elements  of  confusion  that  arise  from  falsely 
applying  or  wholly  abandoning  original  principles  ?  Given  the 
line  of  leading  projected  from  accumulated  experience,  the  busi- 
ness of  modification  and  adaptation  should  be  simple  and  com- 
paratively rapid.  There  are  two  ways  to  find  it.  One  is  by  test- 
ing popular  feeling,  very  widely  now,  on  the  theory  that  the  nat- 
ural law  may  be  generalized  from  a  comparative  study  of  real- 


254  A   SINGLE   OR   A    DOUBLE   COUNCIL? 

ized  popular  necessities.  The  other  method  is  research  to  ascer- 
tain how  the  necessities  of  human  government  were  met  when 
the  elements  of  institutions  came,  so  to  speak,  from  the  soil  like 
other  natural  products.  Both  indicate  what  a  city  is  and  how  it 
should  be  governed. 

I  have,  accordingly,  sent  letters  of  inquiry  to  the  mayors 
and  city  attorneys  of  many  cities,  and  reduced  their  replies  to 
the  following  general  statement :  The  general  tendency  is  toward 
adequate  representation,  extensive  powers  of  local  legislation, 
closeness  of  the  citizen  to  the  official,  responsible  executive 
power,  full  deliberation  and  simplicity. 

To  those  familiar  with  political  history  this  points  unmis- 
takably to  the  town  meeting,  which  is  not  only  government  in 
itself,  but  the  origin  of  all  free  government.  Above  all,  it  is 
local  government  to  the  fullest  extent,  at  least  for  the  purpose  of 
definition.  Its  lineal  descendants,  the  town  and  the  city,  are  not 
mere  corporations,  but  political  bodies  also.  They  have  inhabi- 
tants who  are  stockholders  and  something  more.  They  are  citi- 
zens. They  govern  and  are  governed.  Their  lives  and  fortunes 
and  characters  are  involved,  and  the  analogy  which  associates 
the  historical  origin  of  the  American  double  council  with  a 
mere  compromise  like  that  between  the  States,  as  something 
purely  accidental  and  extraneous,  is  not  wholly  accurate. 

In  view  of  these  facts  the  contention  that  cities  should  be 
governed  by  a  mayor  and  a  board  of  directors,  "  like  any  other 
corporation,"  appears  illogical  and  revolutionary,  and  it  is  further 
weakened  by  the  fact  that  a  board  of  directors  is  not  only  inad- 
equate, but  is  the  single  chamber  in  its  worst  form,  with  an  ab- 
solute independence  which  is  dangerous,  because  irresponsible 
and  practically  unchecked.  The  truer  statement  is  that  the  form 
of  government  in  both  cases  grew  out  of  the  natural  application 
of  the  foregoing  principles  to  complex  conditions  of  administra- 
tion, more  or  less  consistently  and  adequately  in  the  general 
government,  and  very  imperfectly  in  many  cities. 

The  question  before   us  then  is,  how  shall,  we  rearrange 


JOHN    A.    BUTLER.  2$  5 


present  machinery  and  apply  the  town  meeting  idea  to  the  com- 
plex government  of  a  great  city,  so  that  we  may  stand  in  the 
same  position  of  effective  control  toward  our  public  servants 
that  the  men  of  the  town  meeting  held  toward  theirs?  What 
is  the  best  method  of  making  this  application  effective  and  safe? 

The  limits  of  this  paper  will  not  permit  of  detailed  com- 
ment and  illustration,  but  I  will  call  attention  in  passing  to  the 
fact  that  an  early  and  very  complete  development  of  local  gov- 
ernment in  England  took  place  in  London,  with  its  mayor  and 
double  board,  composed  of  the  aldermen  or  head  men  of  the 
guilds,  and  a  common  council,  both  elected  by  the  people. 
This  form  of  government  has  existed  six  hundred  years.  John 
Fiske  describes  it  as  a  truly  representative  republic,  and  says 
that  the  legislative  power  of  its  council  "  within  the  city  is  prac- 
tically supreme.  Parliament  does  not  think  of  overruling  it. 
And  the  city  government  thus  constituted  is  one  of  the  most 
clean-handed  and  efficient  in  the  world." 

I  received  a  letter  from  the  mayor  of  Buffalo  the  other  day 
saying  they  had  tried  the  double  council  there  for  four  years, 
with  satisfactory  results,  after  fifty  years  of  the  single  chamber 
system.  The  weight  of  testimony  in  favor  of  two  chambers 
from  St.  Louis,  Cambridge,  Cincinnati,  Allegheny,  Dallas,  Den- 
ver, Erie,  Lowell,  Richmond,  Worcester  (Mass.),  Wilmington 
(Del.)  and  other  cities  is  emphatic  and  unqualified.  Indianap- 
olis, Cleveland,  Dayton,  Burlington  (Iowa)  and  other  cities  have 
its  equivalent  in  a  more  or  less  perfect  and  satisfactory  form — 
in  some  cases  an  executive  board,  in  others  from  one  to  six 
aldermen,  elected  at  large  as  members  of  a  single  chamber, 
otherwise  representative  of  wards. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  slavishly  imitate  either  London  or 
Buffalo,  but  it  is  advisable  to  apply  the  same  general  plan  still 
more  perfectly  in  the  light  of  local  necessities.  It  is  both  con- 
servative and  progressive  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term  to  secure 
a  maximum  of  reform  with  a  minimum  of  change,  and  by  read- 
justing municipal  machinery  in  such  a  way  as  to  adapt  the  town 
meeting  idea  in  its  fullest  development  to  new  and  complex  con- 


256  A   SINGLE  OR  A   DOUBLE   COUNCIL? 

ditions,  we  hold  to  a  line  of  consistency  and  safety  which  runs 
through  all  the  political  history  of  the  English  race,  and  appears 
on  the  whole  to  be  the  best  method  of  serviceably  fitting  the 
mere  form  of  administration  to  the  dominant  idea  of  free  gov- 
ernment. 

In  bringing  this  about  the  first  essential  matter  would  ap- 
pear to  be  extensive  local  powers  of  legislation  within  definite 
and  well-considered  limits,  and  the  city  of  London  is  a  prece- 
dent in  point.  It  is  of  the  essence  of  free  government  to  legislate 
locally.  The  word  by-laws  was  the  original  term  for  town  laws. 
Moreover,  the  position  of  a  city  legislator  should  be  made  as 
attractive  as  possible  through  the  dignity  that  comes  from  large 
responsibility.  Finally,  "the  remedy  is  most  readily  found 
where  the  evil  is  felt,"  and  State  legislators  do  not  realize  and 
understand  the  needs  of  cities.  A  pointed  illustration  was  the 
passage  of  a  bill  in  Wisconsin  to  practically  exempt  the  Mil- 
waukee Street  Railway  Company  from  paying  taxes.  It  was 
sent  to  Madison  from  Racine.  The  people  of  Milwaukee  were 
scarcely  aware  of  it.  Public  opinion  resents  it.  This  partic- 
ular bill  could  never  have  run  the  gauntlet,  even  of  our  single 
chamber,  much  less  of  a  double  council  equipped  with  the  nec- 
essary powers  of  legislation.  One  of  the  prime  requisites  in  a 
city  council  is  suggested  by  this  illustration.  It  should  have 
abundant  legislative  powers,  but  in  proportion  as  its  legislative 
powers  are  increased,  the  element  of  delay — adequate  delibera- 
tion— which  Mr.  John  Boyd  Thacher  calls  the  "  most  blessed 
merit "  of  the  double  council  system,  should  be  its  guiding  prin- 
ciple. But  while  there  may  be  deliberation  in  a  single  council 
in  the  sense  of  thorough  consideration,  the  delay  essential  to  the 
defeat  of  dangerous  measures  can  only  be  had  with  certainty  in 
a  single  chamber  when  that  body  is  ideally  constituted. 

It  is  conceivable  that  a  measure  like  the  bill  referred  to 
might  be  rapidly  passed  through  a  single  chamber  unobserved 
and  unchallenged.  The  city  attorney  of  Denver  says :  "  The 
danger  of  a  single  council  is  found  principally  in  hasty  and 
secret  legislation.  The  objection  to  ward  representation  is  that 


JOHN    A.    BUTLER.  257 


inferior  men  can  be  elected."  That  is  alone  a  strong  argument 
for  the  double-chamber  system.  The  city  attorney  of  Erie 
says :  "  The  double-chamber  council  system  seems  to  meet 
with  universal  approval,  and  in  practice  it  works  well.  It  pre- 
vents hasty  and  ill-advised  legislation,  and  each  council  acts  as 
a  check  upon  the  passions  and  self-interest  of  the  other.  I  do 
not  think  our  citizens  would  be  willing  to  return  at  any  time  to 
the  single  council  form  of  government."  Mayor  Walbridge, 
of  St.  Louis,  says :  "  The  double  council  '  has  elements  of 
safety '  and  is  '  less  liable  to  abuse '  than  the  single-chamber 
system." 

In  the  Milwaukee  single  chamber  there  is  a  rule  that  appro- 
priations and  similar  matters  shall  lie  over  a  given  length  of 
time.  In  the  literal  sense  of  the  term  this  is  delay ;  but  they 
are  taken  up  again  by  the  same  men,  in  the  same  frame  of  mind, 
guided  by  the  same  motives,  convictions  and  interests  ;  whereas, 
the  delay  of  the  double  system  entails  more  publicity,  fresh 
thought  and  a  new  point  of  view.  To  a  certain  extent  this  ad- 
vantage inheres  in  the  usual  second  chamber,  but  there  are  dis- 
advantages involved  which  do  ^not  belong  to  a  chamber  elected 
at  large.  The  warp!s  vary  greatly  in  the  character  of  their  popu- 
lation, but  the  average  honesty  and  integrity  of  an  entire  city  in 
any  case  is  high.  It  has  been  known  that  a  ward  has  elected 
an  ex-convict  to  the  common  council.  A  second  chamber  on 
a  ward  basis  might  intensify  the  evils  we  desire  to  remove,  but 
representatives  elected  at  large,  upon  whom  the  entire  city  is 
agreed,  are  likely  to  average  high  in  judgment  and  character. 

In  the  correspondence  upon  which  this  paper  is  partly  based 
the  most  thoughtful  testimony  is  in  favor  of  a  double  council 
elected  at  large  with  increased  legislative  powers. 

There  is  a  surprising  tendency,  also,  even  in  the  far  West, 
to  concentrate  all  executive  powers  in  the  hands  of  the  mayor, 
and  as  the  presence  or  absence  of  executive  powers  materially 
touches  the  character  of  any  council,  and  particularly  the 
double  system,  it  requires  consideration  here.  In  examining 


2$8  A   SINGLE   OR   A    DOUBLE   COUNCIL? 

the  council  system  of  an  average  American  city  a  curious  spec- 
tacle is  presented. 

The  mayor  is  elected  to  represent  the  people  directly  and 
effectively  in  an  executive  capacity ;  but,  with  bungling  incon- 
sistency, the  council  shares  these  powers  and  hampers  the  exec- 
utive in  their  exercise.  An  illustration  is  offered  by  a  case 
within  my  own  knowledge.  The  mayor  of  Milwaukee  some 
years  ago  refused,  for  cause,  to  grant  a  liquor  license.  He  had 
to  contend  with  a  rebellious  single  chamber,  largely  controlled 
by  the  saloon  element.  The  saloon  in  question  was  on  a  prin- 
cipal street,  in  the  midst  of  private  residences.  The  council 
overruled  the  mayor. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  a  second  chamber,  elected  at 
large,  would  have  supported  him ;  but  even  with  a  double 
council  the  responsibility  in  such  a  case  should  rest  with  the 
mayor  only.  The  other  tendency  has,  however,  been  followed 
in  Milwaukee.  The  ordinance  delegating  control  of  licenses  to 
the  mayor  has  been  repealed.  A  council  committee  has  com- 
plete control,  and  a  saloonkeeper  has  sometimes  been  its 
chairman. 

But  the  evils  of  a  single  executive  and  administrative  cham- 
ber do  not  end  here.  On  the  contrary,  the  administrative  com- 
mittees on  construction,  printing,  the  purchase  of  school  sites 
and  other  like  matters  offer  opportunities  for  private  gain,  the 
removal  of  which  is  the  only  means  of  counteracting  conditions 
of  ignorance  and  vice  in  the  native  population,  and  inexperience 
and  credulity  among  foreign  voters,  by  means  of  which  the  spec- 
ulative demagogue  secures  election  as  a  ward  representative; 
and,  in  my  humble  judgment,  such  men  would  rarely  seek  elec- 
tion if  that  kind  of  spoils  were  wholly  removed ;  and  it  is  self- 
evident  that  such  executive  responsibility  would  be  much  safer 
in  the  hands  of  a  man  elected  at  large,  or  his  appointees,  than  in 
any  committee  of  local  representatives,  where  accountability  is 
less  definitely  concentrated. 

Finally,  the  men  of  the  town  meeting  enjoyed  adequate 
representation,  not  in  portions  or  sections,  but  altogether.  They 


JOHN   A.    BUTLER.  2$9 


met  in  a  body  as  citizens  of  the  town.  In  a  modern  city,  with  a 
single  chamber  on  a  ward  basis,  the  means,  by  reason  of  its  lim- 
ited and  fragmentary  character,  defeats  the  end,  even  in  the  ward. 
Through  the  system  of  "  trading  "  the  whole  council  represents 
each  of  several  wards  in  turn,  or,  more  accurately,  the  interests 
of  the  aldermen  and  their  friends,  and  various  wards  vie  with 
each  other  in  undertakings  of  an  expensive  nature.  Local  rep-^ 
resentation,  through  outdoing  itself,  represents  neither  the  in- 
terests of  the  city  at  large  nor  the  ward  itself.  This  tendency  is 
very  marked  in  cities  like  Milwaukee,  which  have  been  formed 
by  the  more  or  less  unwilling  union  of  "  rival  and  antagonistic 
hamlets,  at  first  independent  of  each  other,"  and  "afterwards 
aggregated  by  force  of  law  in  a  single  corporation."  Each  ward 
stands  close  to  its  representative  in  getting  "  improvements,"  and 
in  local  jealousy,  but  not  so  close  in  checking  unnecessary  local 
and  general  expense,  as  if  it  had  the  united  citizenship  on  its 
side  in  the  corrective  influence  of  a  second  chamber  elected  at 
large  and  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  city  as  a  whole.  The 
tendency  to  the  undue  and  unchecked  ward  influence  of  a  single 
chamber  is  fatal  to  well-balanced  and  symmetrical  government, 
and,  of  course,  the  general  interests  of  the  city,  which  often  find 
their  sole  legislative  representation  in  the  mayor's  veto,  under 
the  single-chamber  system  are  likely  to  be  seriously  jeopardized 
by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  a  body,  the  character  of  which  is  uncer- 
tain, and  therefore  require  the  protection  of  more  disinterested 
action  in  a  body  elected  to  represent  the  entire  community.  Ob- 
viously, the  council  should  not  only  be  double,  with  one  cham- 
ber elected  at  large,  but  it  should  be  a  purely  legislative  body. 
It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  the  double  as  well  as  the 
single  council  should  be  elected  in  alternate  sections. 

With  a  double  council  of  that  kind  we  have  the  adequate 
representation  and  deliberation  of  the  town  meeting  in  another 
form.  With  an  untrammeled  mayor  we  have  concentrated  and 
definite  responsibility  for  executive  acts,  which  a  jealous  coun- 
cil, with  power  to  impeach,  would  readily  enforce.  With  a  sin- 
gle representative  from  each  ward  and  a  small  second  chamber 


26O  A   SINGLE   OR   A    DOUBLE    COUNCIL? 

there  is  a  decided  gain  in  simplicity,  and  by  combining  all  these 
things  with  civil  service  rules  and  a  proper  limit  on  the  partici- 
pation of  city  officials  in  politics  while  in  office,  it  would  appear 
that  city  government  must  become  as  nearly  perfect  as  any  sys- 
tem can  make  it. 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  town  meeting  elected  a  single 
board,  but  the  people  then  governed  directly  in  small  com- 
munities, and  dealt,  so  to  speak,  at  arm's  length  with  the  select- 
men, and  it  is  not  proposed,  nor  is  it  possible,  to  govern  by  town 
meeting  in  a  modern  city,  but  only  to  attain  the  same  result. 

It  may  also  be  said  that  the  leading  illustrations  are  inac- 
curate, because  senators  are  elected  to  represent  States  and  the 
members  of  the  upper  London  chamber  to  represent  wards; 
whereas,  it  is  proposed  that  the  upper  municipal  chamber  shall 
represent  the  city  at  large,  to  which  it  may  be  replied  that  we 
are  not  dealing  with  the  specific  literal  form,  but  with  under- 
lying ideas  which  are  not  wrought  out  with  absolute  perfection 
either  in  the  city  or  the  State  in  any  instance. 

It  is  urged  in  some  quarters  that  proportional  representa- 
tion may  so  far  determine  the  constitution  of  a  single  chamber 
as  to  bring  it  within  the  limits  of  the  question.  But  while  that 
admirable  system  might  prove  very  valuable  in  national  elec- 
tions, a  single  municipal  chamber  elected  under  it  would  still 
lack  the  adequate  delay  of  the  double  council.  It  does  not  per- 
mit of  ward  representation,  which  is  an  evil  only  in  its  abuse; 
and  there  is  some  reason  to  fear  that  it  would  lead  to  hopeless 
discord  and  confusion  by  importing  into  a  single  council  thus 
constituted  a  great  variety  of  seriously  jarring  interests.  Above 
all  it  appears  to  recognize  national  party  in  the  city,  and  even  to 
make  party  its  basal  idea.  The  application  of  the  system  as  pro- 
posed in  Boston  is  a  confession  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  single 
chamber  as  at  present  constituted  in  American  cities. 

I  submit,  in  conclusion,  that,  in  view  of  all  that  has  been 
said,  it  is  better  to  have  a  double  council  for  purposes  of  legis- 
lation in  any  case ;  but  if  the  council  has  the  power  of  making 


JOHN   A.    BUTLER.  26 1 


contracts  it  is  an  absolute  necessity.  In  all  cases  one  chamber 
should  be  elected  at  large,  and  legislative  and  executive  func- 
tions should  be  entirely  separate  and  distinct. 

It  cannot,  however,  be  stated  with  too  much  emphasis  that 
single  changes  will  never  produce  perfect  government.  The  re- 
adjustment must  be  general  to  secure,  unity  of  operation,  and 
should  include  complete  severance  from  national  politics. 

NOTE. — Since  reading  my  paper  at  Baltimore  I  have  been 
greatly  obliged  by  a  suggestion  from  Miss  Hosmer,  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  in  regard  to  the  government  of  the  greater,  com- 
posite London  by  the  County  Council,  which  is,  I  understand,  a 
single  board,  but  which,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  in  no  way  inter- 
feres with  the  essential  institutions  of  the  "  city,"  or  "  London, 
proper,"  and  is  not  expected  to  do  so  in  the  future  except  so  far 
as  they  involve  "  peculiar  immunities  and  privileges."  The  ideas 
which  those  institutions  imperfectly  represent  have  withstood 
the  attacks  of  six  centuries,  and  are  not  likely  to  yield  in  the 
future.  John  Fiske  says  the  government  of  London,  that  is,  the 
"  city,"  reproduces  "  on  a  small  scale  the  national  government." 
Dr.  Shaw  refers  to  "  the  survival  of  the  old-time  municipal  gov- 
ernment, as  it  exists  within  the  narrow  bounds  of  London, 
proper."  It  consists,  as  stated,  of  the  mayor,  a  board  of  alder- 
men and  a  common  council.  The  single  board  in  other  cities 
of  monarchical  England,  with  a  limited  suffrage,  has,  it  is  true, 
often  supplanted  the  original  tendency  to  the  development  of 
the  natural  forms  of  popular  government,  and,  curiously  enough, 
along  lines  which  are  democratic  in  their  form.  The  committee 
system  in  the  single  English  chamber  appears  to  be  a  success. 
It  is  undeniably  a  failure  here,  and  it  is  thought  necessary  by 
many  to  employ  the  monarchical  form  in  this  country  by  means 
of  the  mayor  system,  in  order  to  rescue  the  substance  of  democ- 
racy through  the  direct  expression  and  execution  of  the  people's 
will  by  a  responsible  and  easily-removed  executive.  Escape 
from  the  evils  of  the  administrative  committee  is  sought  by 
placing  its  scattered  responsibility  in  the  mayor's  hands ;  and 


262  A   SINGLE  OR   A   DOUBLE   COUNCIL? 

unrestrained  perversities  in  the  suffrage,  which  are  as  yet  un- 
known abroad,  can  certainly  be  met  by  a  second  chamber 
elected  at  large. 

The  goal  of  the  speculative  ward  politician  in  American 
cities  is  the  council  committee,  with  its  power  and  profit.  Such 
committees  are  said  to  be  useful  and  essential  in  England,  but 
their  removal  appears  desirable  here,  to  keep  bad  men  out  and 
make  room  for  "  good  men  "  in  our  councils.  For  a  description 
of  the  double  board  of  the  city  of  London  the  reader  is  referred 
to  John  Fiske's  "  Civil  Government  in  the  United  States," 
page  107. 


SHOULD    MUNICIPAL    LEGISLATORS    RECEIVE   A    SALARY?       263 


SHOULD  MUNICIPAL  LEGISLATORS  RECEIVE 
A  SALARY? 


JAMES  W.  PRYOR,  ESQ., 
SECRETARY,  CITY  CLUB  OF  NEW  YORK. 


In  view  of  the  experience  of  our  American  cities  in  the 
matter  of  municipal  government — an  experience  uniform  in 
little  save  the  unhappy  results — he  must  be  a  brave  man  who 
will  dogmatize  as  to  the  form  of  government  and  the  arrange- 
ment of  details  which  shall  best  aid  us  in  solving  the  problem 
which  has  thus  far  baffled  all  our  cities.  As  to  the  question 
under  consideration,  we  can  only  try  to  determine  the  most 
hopeful  lines  upon  which  experiment  might  be  made.  This  is 
so  largely  because  no  considerable  city  in  the  country  has  been 
permitted  to  carry  to  a  logical  conclusion  any  experiment  in  mu- 
nicipal government.  No  sooner  has  some  form  of  municipal 
government  developed  in  practice  a  weakness  at  any  particu- 
lar point  than  an  appeal  has  been  made  to  the  State  legislature 
to  remedy  the  apparent  evil — and  this  without  sufficient  inquiry 
as  to  whether  the  evil  was  inherent  in  the  system  under  trial,  or 
but  an  incident  to  the  operation  of  new  and  untried  machinery. 
The  result  is  that  we  can  hardly  distill  from  the  experience  of 
our  cities  any  satisfactory  and  useful  generalization  in  regard  to 
the  kind  of  government  best  suited  to  the  cities  of  this  country 
under  present  conditions.  We  have  little  to  guide  us,  save  the 
experience  of  cities  in  other  lands,  and  the  purely  abstract  con- 
clusions of  a  priori  reasoning.  If  any  one  large  American  city 
could  be  left  for  a  number  of  years  unmolested  by  the  State 
legislature  to  evolve  from  within  itself,  under  the  most  general 
provisions  of  a  State  law,  its  own  system  of  local  government, 
meeting  and  overcoming  its  own  difficulties  with  its  own  re- 
sources of  civic  virtue  and  wisdom,  we  should  learn  more  of  the 


264      SHOULD    MUNICIPAL   LEGISLATORS   RECEIVE   A   SALARY? 

way  to  solve  the  general  problem  with  which  we  are  concerned 
than  we  are  now  likely  to  learn  in  three  times  as  many  years. 

To  the  proposition  adopted  by  us  Americans  that  each 
community  of  free  men  should  govern  itself,  a  necessary  cor- 
ollary seems  to  be  that  no  community  of  free  men  can  secure 
from  sources  outside  of  itself  a  government  better  than  it  can 
evolve  from  within.  Temporary  relief  may  be  had  from  outside, 
but  government  of  the  only  kind  with  which  we,  as  Americans, 
ought  to  be  satisfied  can  be  secured  to  a  community  only  by  a 
process  of  internal  growth.  This  process  would  involve,  per- 
haps, internal  difficulties  and  disorders  from  which  the  timid 
would  shrink,  but  which,  if  it  could  be  known  that  the  commu- 
nity must  deal  with  them  single-handed,  would  pave  the  way 
to  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  splendid  capacity  of  the  Ameri- 
can citizen,  too  often  latent,  to  work  out  his  own  political  salva- 
tion at  the  very  time  when  his  case  seems  hopeless.  If  we 
could  have  for  five  years  in  this  country  a  single  free  city  of  a 
million  inhabitants  we  should  hear  very  little  more  about  the 
hopeless  problem  of  municipal  government. 

For  light  upon  the  question  as  to  whether  municipal  legis- 
lators should  receive  salaries  or  should  serve  without  compensa- 
tion, let  us  turn  first  to  experience.  Of  European  cities  it  may 
be  said,  generally,  that  they  have  municipal  councillors  of  good 
character  and  sufficient  ability  who  fully  represent  their  con- 
stituencies; and  that  they  serve  without  pay.  Of  American 
aldermen  it  may  be  said,  generally,  that  they  are,  in  both  char- 
acter and  ability,  below  the  standard  of  their  communities;  and 
that  they  serve  either  without  pay  or  for  very  small  salaries.  Art 
attempt  to  deduce  a  useful  conclusion  from  these  principal  facts 
would  involve  a  long  and  probably  inconclusive  comparison  of 
the  conditions  under  which  municipal  government  is  conducted 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe. 

We  are  then  compelled  to  make  the  attempt  to  determine, 
as  a  matter  of  pure  theory,  what  the  proper  policy  of  American 
cities,  under  present  conditions,  is  in  the  matter  of  compensation 
of  members  of  the  local  legislatures. 


JAMES   W.    PRYOR.  265 


Probably  the  following  propositions  will  be  generally  ac- 
cepted :  We  have,  not  as  a  rule,  in  this  country  a  class  of  citi- 
zens who  have  at  once  the  proper  equipment  for  the  higher 
grades  of  public  service  and  time  which  they  could  devote  to 
the  service.  Those  who  are  most  deeply  and  intelligently  inter- 
ested in  our  problems  of  government  are  men  so  occupied  with 
business  or  professional  cares  that  such  time  as  they  devote  to 
public  affairs  is  stolen  from  their  sleep  or  from  the  work  upon 
which  they  must  rely  for  the  support  of  themselves  and  their 
families.  Many  of  them  would  prefer  to  give  all  their  time  to 
the  service  of  the  community,  but  they  find  that  they  would  not 
be  justified  in  abandoning  the  occupations  upon  which  their 
livelihood  depends.  As  to  municipal  affairs,  it  is  true,  further, 
that,  as  a  rule,  those  who  are  most  alive  to  the  pressing  nature 
of  the  question  of  city  government  are  to  be  found  among  the 
younger  men,  who  cannot  enter  upon  a  public  career  without 
some  assurance  of  compensation  for  abandoning,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  the  professions  or  business  in  which  they  are  seeking  to 
establish  themselves.  Yet  among  these  younger  men,  schooled 
in  the  newest  political  ideas,  free  from  the  party  shackles  which 
restrain  most  of  their  older  fellow-citizens,  we  must  look  for  the 
leaders  in  the  great  struggle  for  our  cities  upon  which  we  are 
about  entering.  More  than  this,  as  one  result  of  the  misgovern- 
ment  of  our  cities  a  certain  stigma  attaches  to  the  office  of  alder- 
man or  member  of  the  Common  Council.  Most  honorable  men, 
however  public-spirited,  must  see  some  consideration  which  shall 
directly  offset  this  before  they  will  consider  seriously  the  taking 
of  an  office  which  has  ceased  to  bring  honor  to  those  who  hold 
it.  For  these  reasons  we  may  conclude  that,  under  present  con- 
ditions, our  municipal  legislators  must  be  paid,  and  well  paid  if 
we  are  to  secure  the  services  of  men  worthy  to  bear  any  con- 
siderable part  in  working  out  the  destinies  of  our  municipalities. 
Under  other  conditions  it  might  be  unnecessary,  or  even  unde- 
sirable, to  pay  such  salaries.  I  speak  of  the  condition  which 
now  prevails. 

The  objection  made  to  the  payment  of  considerable  salaries 


266      SHOULD    MUNICIPAL   LEGISLATORS   RECEIVE   A   SALARY? 

is  familiar,  and,  as  generally  stated,  seems  to  rest  upon  experi- 
ence. This  objection  is  that  the  common  experience  of  our 
cities  has  been  that  members  of  the  local  legislature  are  in  office 
chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  making  money,  honestly  or  dishon- 
estly, and  that  the  temptation  of  large  salaries  would  make  them 
only  the  more  eager  to  serve  in  the  local  legislature.  The  weak- 
ness of  this  argument  lies  in  the  fact  that  our  municipal  legis- 
lators are  about  as  bad  as  they  can  be.  The  temptation  pre- 
sented by  our  treatment  of  municipal  franchises,  for  one  thing, 
is  so  great  that  the  addition  of  a  few  thousand  dollars  a  year  in 
salary  would  not  create  any  appreciable  difference.  The  induce- 
ments are  now  sufficiently  strong  to  attract  the  men  whose 
characters  and  consciences  make  them  most  ready  to  profit  at 
the  expense  of  the  community.  It  is  said  sometimes  that  to  say 
that  we  must  pay  salaries  in  order  to  secure  the  services  of  the 
most  patriotic  citizens  is  an  acknowledgment  too  humiliating  to 
be  made,  and  that  if  it  is  true  our  case  is  hopeless.  This  seems 
to  me  to  be  a  somewhat  fanciful  view.  We  must  deal  with  facts. 
The  facts  are  that  we  want  our  best  men  in  our  municipal  legis- 
latures, no  matter  how  insignificant  the  part  played  by  those 
bodies  may  be  at  the  moment ;  that  men  whose  services  would 
be  of  the  highest  value  cannot  act  as  members  of  such  legisla- 
tures under  present  conditions  without  liberal  compensation ; 
and  that  such  compensation  would  open  the  way  to  many  of  our 
best  citizens,  who  would  welcome  an  opportunity  to  serve  their 
communities,  but  to  whom  the  opportunity  cannot  come  unless 
the  office  presents  itself  as  a  means  of  livelihood. 


THE  EXCLUSION  OF  POLITICS  FROM  MUNICIPAL  BUSINESS.      267 


THE   NECESSITY  FOR  EXCLUDING  POLITICS 
FROM  MUNICIPAL  BUSINESS. 


COL.  GEORGE  E.  WARING,  JR., 

SUPERINTENDENT,    DEPARTMENT    OF    STREET    CLEANING,   NEW 

YORK. 


I  have  no  qualification  for  speaking  in  a  general  way  on  the 
question  that  has  been  submitted  to  me.  I  may  say  that  I  have 
never  given  much  thought  or  study  to  the  question  of  munici- 
pal government.  I  have  never  been  connected  in  any  way  with 
municipal  government,  except  as  regards  the  execution  of  public 
work,  and  in  that  until  recently  only  as  an  advising  officer.  The 
way,  and  the  only  way,  in  which  I  may  be  able  to  add  some- 
thing to  the  interest  of  this  meeting  will  be  to  give,  in  a  narra- 
tive form,  a  rapid  sketch  of  my  connection  with  the  Department 
of  Street  Cleaning  in  New  York  City. 

I  had  long  been  interested  in  the  visible  work  of  munici- 
palities, and  my  professional  occupation  had  given  me  certain 
facilities  for  observation.  About  five  years  ago,  through  a  mem- 
ber of  the  National  Democratic  Committee  living  in  Newport, 
I  was  appealed  to  by  somebody  in  New  York — who  it  was  I  do 
not  know — to  know  whether  or  not  I  would  take  charge  of  the 
Department  of  Street  Cleaning.  I  said,  "  Yes,  I  will  do  so  very 
gladly,  if  I  can  have  my  own  way." 

The  question  came  back,  "  What  does  he  mean  by  having 
his  own  way  ?  " 

I  said,  "  I  mean  that  I  am  to  have  absolute  control  of  the 
force  without  the  interference  of  politicians." 

That  closed  the  incident.  My  interest  in  the  matter, 
however,  continued,  and  I  thought  that  I  saw  a  chance  for 
making  a  reputation  in  connection  with  that  work.  I  felt 


268      THE  EXCLUSION  OF  POLITICS  FROM  MUNICIPAL  BUSINESS. 

that  if  I  ever  had  an  opportunity  to  try  my  hand  at  it  I  should 
offer  my  services. 

I  met  a  friend  of  Mayor  Strong  at  lunch  in  the  autumn  of 
1894,  and  sent  word  to  him  that  if  he  was  looking  for  a  commis- 
sioner of  street  cleaning  I  was  at  his  service.  He  called  me  to 
New  York  and  offered  me  the  position.  I  told  him  that  I  would 
accept  it  on  precisely  the  same  conditions  that  I  had  indicated 
before,  that  I  should  have  my  own  way. 

He  said,  "  The  law  gives  you  your  own  way  pretty  well." 
"  That  is  true,"  I  said ;  "  I  do  not  mean  that.     I  mean  you 
and  your  friends.     If  you  will  not  interfere  with  me  in  any  way 
until  you  are  ready  to  remove  me  I  will  take  the  place." 

After  a  discussion  of  a  pretty  long  evening  I  was  satisfied 
that  he  meant  exactly  what  he  said  when  he  told  me  I  should 
have  my  own  way ;  and  I  must  say  for  him  that  from  that  day 
to  this  he  has  never  attempted  to  exert  the  least  influence 
over  me  in  the  matter  of  appointments.  He  has  sometimes 
referred,  without  recommendation,  appeals  that  have  been 
made  to  him  by  prominent  Republicans,  good  government 
clubs,  etc.;  but,  so  far  as  I  can  recall,  he  has  from  the  first  made 
but  two  requests  for  appointment,  and  neither  of  those  had  any 
relation  to  politics. 

In  December  I  was  selected  for  the  office,  and  it  was  ar- 
ranged that  Mr.  Andrews,  my  predecessor,  should  hold  his  posi- 
tion until  the  I5th  of  January,  and  that  I  should  serve  as  his 
apprentice  during  that  time,  giving  me  an  opportunity  to  "  get 
the  hang  of  the  school-house."  I  spent  those  two  weeks  in 
looking  over  the  situation. 

I  had  heard  that  the  department  was  in  a  very  bad  way ; 
that  the  men  were  very  inefficient ;  that  the  plant  was  inadequate 
and  in  very  bad  order;  and  that  something  else  than  the  ciean- 
ing  of  streets  must  have  been  the  principal  object  to  which 
the  energies  of  the  department  had  been  devoted.  My  exami- 
nation fully  confirmed  that  impression.  Physically  the  men 
were  apparently  well  enough,  but  the  effect  of  the  exercise  of 


COL.    GEORGE   E.    WARING,   JR.  269 

their  energies  on  the  streets  was  bad  enough.  The  stables  were 
not  in  good  condition.  Foremen  and  others,  who  were  in  a 
position  where  they  could  exercise  some  influence,  had  a  ten- 
dency to  wear  diamond  studs  that  was  suggestive. 

While  I  was  with  Mr.  Andrews  I  was  introduced  to  a  great 
many  men  who  had  more  or  less  to  do  with  the  outside  work  of 
the  department,  the  hiring  of  horses  when  the  department  stock 
was  insufficient,  the  towing  of  scows  to  sea  and  various  things  of 
that  kind.  I  think  I  never  met  in  so  short  a  time  so  complacent 
and  agreeable  gentlemen  as  they  were. 

On  the  1 5th  of  January  when  I  went  to  take  possession  of 
my  office  I  found  a  floral  tribute  about  four  feet  high,  in  the  form 
of  an  anchor,  with  a  large  "  Hope  "  written  over  the  face  of  it. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  lo  say  that  the  hope  was  disappointed,  and 
that  that  anchor  was  connected  with  another  cable. 

It  was  not  only  the  Tammany  men,  the  old  stagers,  who 
were  friendly  to  me,  and  who  were  ready  to  render  me  every  ser- 
vice and  assistance,  but  I  had  quite  as  much  aid  and  encourage- 
ment of  the  same  sort  from  their  Republican  brethren.  I  soon 
learned  that,  so  far  as  the  interests  of  people  who  have  to  do 
with  such  work  are  concerned,  it  is  impossible,  without  a 
label,  to  distinguish  between  a  Democrat  and  a  Republican. 
I  am  satisfied  that  the  career  of  any  new  officer  in  a  city  like 
New  York,  one  who  is  unacquainted  with  the  conditions  he 
has  to  meet,  must  be  curious.  I  think  that  mine  was  specially 
so.  I  found  that  my  suggestion  that  no  political  appointments 
would  be  made  and  that  no  political  removals  would  be  made 
was  received  as  so  much  utter  nonsense.  I  think  it  was  then  that 
they  began  to  say  that  I  was  from  Rhode  Island  and  did  not 
know  what  New  York  City  really  was. 

The  legislature  adjourned  on  Friday  nights.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  it  only  adjourned  to  meet  at  the  Department  of 
Street  Cleaning  on  Saturday  mornings.  Every  member  of 
it  seemed  to  be  on  hand  wanting  to  get  something  for  him- 
self or  a  friend.  In  a  few  days  I  caused  it  to  be  understood  that 
I  would  not  receive  politicians,  and  would  not  receive  applica- 


27O      THE  EXCLUSION  OF  POLITICS  FROM  MUNICIPAL  BUSINESS. 


tions  for  appointment,  for  I  did  not  need  men.  I  had  enough, 
and  I  proposed  to  have  nobody  thrust  upon  me.  This  idea  pen- 
etrated very  slowly  into  the  minds  of  these  people  in  New  York 
who  were  accustomed  to  dealing  in  that  sort  of  thing,  but  when 
it  did  penetrate  they  made  up  their  minds  that  they  would  see 
whether  or  not  that  thing  would  be  allowed  to  work. 

The  first  attack  was  made  through  the  Knights  of  Labor, 
who  had  an  organization  in  the  stables  of  the  department ;  they 
gave  it  to  be  understood  very  clearly  that  they  meant  that  at 
any  rate  the  stables  should  be  run  in  their  way  or  there  would 
be  a  strike.  They  were  not  in  a  very  strong  position,  for  it  was 
possible  for  me  to  remove  any  one  of  them.  So  they  called  in 
the  aid  of  the  Central  Labor  Union,  and  the  result  was  that  in 
two  or  three  weeks  we  had  a  first-class  row  from  one  end  of  the 
city  to  the  other,  and  the  poor  mayor  received  the  brunt  of  the 
blow.  I  kept  my  door  locked  and  would  not  let  them  in.  The 
mayor,  however,  kept  his  office  open,  and  it  was  crowded  at 
first  by  representatives  of  the  labor  organizations,  and  then,  in 
the  fear  that  that  might  succeed,  the  respectable  elements  of  the 
town  poured  in  to  counteract  their  effort,  and  his  last  state  was 
simply  very  much  worse  than  his  first.  After  that  the  Cigar- 
makers'  Union,  numbering  ten  thousand,  passed  a  resolution, 
which  I  believe  they  carried  out  for  a  few  days,  that  each  mem- 
ber should  every  day  send  a  postal  card  to  the  mayor  demand- 
ing my  removal. 

Another  very  serious  cause  of  objection  and  occasion  for 
the  use  of"  influence  "  was  found  in  connection  with  the  removal 
of  trucks.  There  had  been,  by  the  estimate  of  the  Board  of 
Health,  over  sixty  thousand  unharnessed  vehicles  regularly 
stabled  in  the  streets  over  night  and  on  Sunday,  and  many  of 
them  at  all  times.  Frequent  efforts  had  been  made  in  years  past 
to  enforce  the  law  requiring  the  removal  of  these ;  but  truckmen 
are  politically  active  and  their  organization  is  powerful.  We 
undertook  this  work  at  an  early  day  and  carried  it  through  so 
that  there  are  now  practically  no  unharnessed  vehicles  to  be 
found  in  the  streets  of  New  York.  This  removal  was  not  ac- 


COL.    GEORGE    E.    WARING,   JR. 


complished  without  much  hard  work,  a  good  deal  of  struggle 
and  some  actual  fighting.  It  arrayed  against  the  department 
not  only  the  Truckmen's  Association,  but  the  poor-man-who- 
has-a-right-to-make-a-living  element,  reinforced  by  the  men  who 
wanted  the  votes  of  this  element  ;  so  that  itj  this  matter  also  we 
had  arrayed  the  active  opposition  of  politicians  of  all  parties. 

When  the  futility  of  these  efforts  to  break  me  down  had 
been  shown  these  people  began  to  look  about  in  another  direc- 
tion. In  a  private  conversation  in  another  office  I  had  made  a 
remark  about  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  which  I  believe 
was  regarded  as  not  being  altogether  complimentary.  A  person 
who  took  part  in  the  conversation  gave  to  one  of  the  newspapers 
a  very  erroneous  report  of  what  I  had  said.  It  became  neces- 
sary for  me  to  say  exactly  what  I  did  say,  and  that  gave  the 
politicians  —  on  the  Republican  side,  certainly,  and  I  think  it  was 
availed  of  on  the  other  side  —  an  occasion  to  attempt  to  demon- 
strate to  the  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York  that  he  had  no  right 
to  give  an  office,  with  a  comfortable  salary,  to  a  man  who 
had  reviled  the  defenders  of  his  country.  They  brought  in 
all  of  the  Republican  influence  that  could  be  got  together,  so 
that  the  mayor  told  me  he  had  received  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  sets  of  resolutions  passed  by  Grand  Army  Posts  all  over 
the  United  States  demanding  my  removal.  The  mayor  was 
mortal,  and  I  must  say  he  showed  signs  of  weakening  —  signs 
that  gave  me  a  good  deal  of  uneasiness  and  anxiety.  Having 
undertaken  this  work  I  did  not  want  to  be  sent  back  to  Newport 
until  I  had  finished  it.  My  anxiety,  fortunately,  was  felt  by 
pretty  nearly  the  whole  of  the  better  class  of  people  in  New 
York,  and  not  only  by  them,  but  by  great  numbers  of  the 
poorest  people,  inhabitants  of  the  tenement-house  region,  whose 
lives  had  been  made  a  little  more  comfortable  by  reason  of  the 
work  the  department  had  done. 

Matters  finally  came  to  such  a  point  that  my  own  men  were 
very  much  alarmed.  They  were  afraid  they  were  going  to  lose 
their  places  and  that  the  whole  thing  would  go  to  pieces.  My 
reply  was  always,  "  Clean  the  streets  ;  that  is  your  only  chance; 


2/2     THE  EXCLUSION  OF  POLITICS  FROM  MUNICIPAL  BUSINESS. 

our  only  chance  is  the  support  of  the  people  who  want  the 
streets  clean ;  if  they  are  kept  clean  they  will  take  care  of  us." 
One  after  another  they  came  to  see  me,  and,  finally,  the  superin- 
tendent, an  old  Tammany  captain,  who  had  been  in  the  de- 
partment for  many  years,  said  to  me:  "Commissioner,  I  don't 
want  to  see  you  fail,  but  I  have  been  talking  and  listening 
around  town,  and  something  has  got  to  be  done ;  some  conces- 
sion has  got  to  be  made  or  you  will  be  turned  down."  I  said : 
"  Clean  the  streets,  make  them  shine  ;  that  is  your  only  chance. 
Put  on  one  hundred  and  fifty  more  men." 

He  said :  "  The  appropriation  won't  stand  it." 
"  Hang  the  appropriation.    Get  the  streets  cleaned  first,  and 
we  will  see  about  that  afterwards." 

It  was  done,  and  it  was  done  successfully,  and  that  practi- 
cally ended  our  troubles,  except  so  far  as  they  came  from  the 
Tammany  organization,  which  was  fighting  the  whole  reform 
movement.  That  organization  had  an  able,  eloquent  and  very 
effective  representative  on  the  Board  of  Estimates  and  Appor- 
tionments, which  is  the  governing  body  of  the  city,  under  the 
mayor,  in  the  person  of  the  comptroller,  Mr.  Fitch.  He  held 
me  up  in  the  board  for  a  very  long  time,  and  life  was  not  alto- 
gether agreeable  for  either  of  us  for  some  months.  But,  finally, 
apparently  due  to  the  fact  that  the  work  that  we  were  appointed 
to  do  was  done  and  that  the  streets  were  clean,  and  partly  be- 
cause they  got  tired  of  fighting  and  did  not  see  where  they 
would  land,  they,  or  his  better  nature,  called  Mr.  Fitch  off. 

From  that  time  until  now  our  course  has  been  on  an  easy 
down  grade.  Mr.  Fitch,  who  was  my  enemy  at  every  point,  is 
now  my  best  friend,  and  he  misses  no  opportunity  to  tell  me 
how  glad  he  will  be  to  pass  any  bill  that  I  send  to  him  in  which 
I  have  any  sort  of  interest.  The  people  who  were  determined 
that  I  should  be  turned  out  because  they  could  not  get  offices 
from  me,  and  who  used  to  revile  me  to  others,  and  who  used  to 
turn  a  cold  shoulder  to  me,  are  now  certainly — whether  they  are 
friends  or  not — very  cordial,  and  seem  to  be  very  well  satisfied. 
And  I  had  the  crowning  satisfaction  a  little  while  ago  of  having 


COL.    GEORGE    E.    WARING,    JR.  2/3 

a  direct  message,  said  to  be  from  one  of  the  big  four  of  Tam- 
many Hall,  to  the  effect  that  I  need  not  trouble  myself  about 
the  next  election ;  that  if  they  came  in  they  had  made  up 
their  minds  they  would  keep  me.  Of  course,  I  accepted  this 
as  a  sort  of  pandering  to  the  better  element,  and  am  not 
open  to  too  much  influence  from  that  side.  At  the  same  time 
I  have  frequent  gratifying  compliments  from  Democrats  who 
«ver  regarded  me  as  their  natural  enemy. 

The  only  reason  why  it  has  been  possible  to  do  what  we 
have  done  is  because  we  have  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  politics  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  When  I  took 
charge  of  the  department  it  had  about  thirteen  hundred 
sweepers,  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  drivers,  and,  perhaps, 
one  hundred  men  in  other  capacities,  besides  the  superintending 
force.  They  were  as  nearly  an  utterly  worthless  crowd  as  you 
could  find  anywhere.  They  had  had  three  duties  to  perform  ; 
they  had  been  appointed  for  those  duties,  and  in  the  perform- 
ance of  two  of  those  duties  they  had  been  diligent  enough.  The 
first  duty  was  to  make  contributions  regularly  every  week  of  a 
certain  percentage  of  their  pay  to  the  agents  of  Tammany  Hall ; 
the  second  duty  was  to  obey  all  the  orders  of  the  men  who 
had  given  them  their  places ;  and  the  third  duty  was  to 
sweep  the  streets.  They  very  soon  found  out  that  so  long  as 
they  took  care  of  duty  number  one  and  duty  number  two  they 
could  take  their  own  way  about  duty  number  three,  but  that  if 
they  did  not  take  care  of  number  one  and  number  two  they 
would  be  dismissed  for  failure  under  number  three.  Some  of 
the  men  had  expected  to  be  turned  out  of  their  places  because 
the  reform  movement  had  been  directed  against  the  organiza- 
tion that  put  them  there,  but  I  gave  it  to  be  understood  through- 
out the  force  that  thenceforth  no  political  influence  of  any  kind, 
no  personal  influence  of  any  sort,  could  help  or  harm  any  man. 
The  suggestion  was  at  first  received  with  an  air  of  incredulity, 
but  little  by  little  the  men  came  to  believe  it.  They  saw  that 
they  could  keep  their  places,  or  lose  them,  solely  by  the  way 
they  did  their  work.  They  had  been  like  a  man  swimming  with 


274     THE  EXCLUSION  OF  POLITICS  FROM  MUNICIPAL  BUSINESS. 

a  life  preserver;  not  knowing  how  to  swim,  the  strings  had  been 
cut,  the  life  preserver  was  gone,  they  had  to  tread  water  or 
sink.  And  they  did  tread  water  with  great  vigor  and  power, 
and  have  kept  it  up  ever  since.  We  have  now  altogether 
about  twenty-five  hundred  men,  but  of  the  two  thousand  or 
twenty-one  hundred  men  appointed  by  Tammany  influence, 
about  fifteen  hundred  still  remain,  and  I  must  say  that,  having 
had  some  experience  with  military  forces  and  other  working 
forces  in  the  course  of  my  life,  I  have  never  seen  anywhere  a 
body  of  men  who  were  better  workers  or  a  body  of  soldiers 
who  were  better  disciplined.  Every  man  in  the  department  is 
interested  in  his  work,  and  seems  to  be  proud  of  his  position. 

The  papers  have  had  a  good  deal  to  say  about  us,  and  that 
gives  these  men  a  feeling  of  great  importance  and  consequence, 
and  I  think  any  one  who  will  go  about  the  streets  of  New  York 
and  see  the  manner  in  which  the  work  is  done  from  early  morn- 
ing until  sometimes  seven  or  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  will 
see  that  those  men  are  a  very  good  illustration  of  the  fact  that 
in  the  city  of  New  York  the  work  is  now  carried  on  as  a  busi- 
ness, that  it  can  be  made  successful,  and  can  equal  any  private 
work. 


A    CHRISTIAN    CITIZENSHIP   UNION.  275 


A   CHRISTIAN    CITIZENSHIP   UNION. 


ALBERT  G.  LAWSON,  D.  D.,  CAMDEN,  N.  J. 


The  Christian  Citizenship  Union  of  Camden,  N.  J.,  organized 
in  February,  1895,  represents  all  the  societies  of  young  people — 
Baptist  Union,  Christian  Endeavor  and  Epworth  League — con- 
nected with  our  churches.  It  includes  both  men  and  women,, 
and  among  its  members  are  nearly  two  thousand  voters. 

Its  declared  objects  are  :  "  To  have  its  members  and  all  cit- 
izens to  emphasize  the  importance  of  their  municipal  obliga- 
tions ;  to  acquaint  them  with  existing  conditions  and  with  the 
machinery  of  municipal  government;  to  show  how  our  city 
affairs  are  neglected,  and  how  they  may  be  efficiently  admin- 
istered;  to  repress  in  every  way  possible  what  tends  to  injure 
the  city,  and  to  foster  what  may  increase  its  prosperity." 

It  proposes  "  to  secure  these  objects  by  the  use  of  full  data 
concerning  our  municipal  conditions;  by  the  hearty  support  of 
officials  who  discharge  their  duties  faithfully,  and  by  the  vigor- 
ous prosecution  of  those  who  neglect  them ;  by  legal  proceed- 
ings ;  by  legislation ;  and  by  any  or  all  other  means  tending  to 
create  a  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  principles  and  plans  of 
the  Union." 

It  has  both  active  and  associate  members,  an  executive 
committee  of  fifteen,  a  ward  leader,  a  precinct  captain  and  an- 
associate  for  every  square  in  the  city,  and  holds  its  annual  meet- 
ing on  February  22d. 

We  join  with  good  government  clubs  and  other  organiza- 
tions in  demanding  an  absolute  divorce  between  national  and- 
municipal  questions ;  fitness  and  merit  in  all  public  officials ; 
and  an  honest  administration  of  every  office  for  the  benefit  of 
the  whole  people,  and  that,  too,  upon  a  sound  basis.  We  do- 


276  A    CHRISTIAN   CITIZENSHIP   UNION. 

not  nominate  a  ticket ;  we  do,  however,  heartily  commend  the 
worthy,  and  quite  as  heartily  condemn  the  unworthy,  among  all 
the  candidates. 

The  Christian  Citizenship  Union  is  in  the  highest  sense 
educational.  It  emphasizes  the  strength  of  union,  and  that  at 
the  most  impressible  period  of  the  life.  Citizenship  itself  is  not 
an  unmixed  good.  As  every  new  discovery  of  science  brings 
in  a  new  peril,  so  every  new  method  of  administration  in  govern- 
ment has  its  shadow  in  a  possible  new  method  of  fraud.  New 
methods  of  civic  reform  are  no  exception  to  the  rule.  Where 
there's  a  will  there's  a  way,  and  the  wicked  will  soon  find  a  way 
to  do  wickedly. 

Citizenship  of  itself,  untrained  and  unprincipled,  is  a  market- 
able commodity.  We  have  been  forced  to  witness  in  our  coun- 
try the  almost  open  sale,  not  only  of  ballots  and  of  voters,  but 
of  laws  and  of  legislatures.  To  cut  out  such  a  cancer  once  will  not 
suffice  ;  the  body  politic  must  be  enforced  by  new  blood.  Our 
citizenship  must  have  new  constituents  and  there  must  be  ever 
and  again  the  renewing  of  the  old  truths  and  principles. 

Our  Union  stands  for  the  best  principles  of  government,  and 
has  a  large  class  of  young  people  as  its  helpers  who  are  grow- 
ing up  into  conditions  of  influence.  We  hope  to  have  these 
steadily  trained  into  intelligent,  self-reliant  action.  We  aim  to 
capture  "  the  citizenship  of  to-morrow,"  for  we  believe  that  start- 
ing the  voters  right  is  half  the  battle.  We  aim  to  train  these 
young  people  by  precept  and  example  in  ideas  of  purer  politics 
so  that,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  principles  of  good 
government,  they  may  grow  up  into  the  full  stature  of  open-eyed, 
fearless-hearted,  truth-loving  patriots. 

It  is  truth  that  sets  men  free,  and  that  truth  we  must  begin 
to  teach  to  the  young.  We,  therefore,  aim  to  circulate  litera- 
ture, to  hold  public  meetings,  to  use  the  press  whenever  possi- 
ble, and  in  every  honorable  way  to  stimulate  the  discussion  of 
questions  of  civil  interest.  Debates  are  encouraged,  and  in 
many  other  ways  the  consideration  of  matters  which  affect  the 
welfare  of  the  city  is  secured. 


ALBERT    G.    LAWSON,    D.    D.  2.JJ 

Christian  citizenship  puts  a  premium  on  individuality. 

It  aims  to  have  each  member  in  his  civic  duties  fired  with  a 
purpose  as  pure  as  it  is  patriotic,  strengthened  by  an  inquiry  as 
intelligent  as  it  is  independent  into  the  relation  he  sustains  to 
the  government  of  the  city,  and  to  the  conditions  which  require 
his  personal  action.  No  tract  is  so  effective  as  a  tract  in  boots, 
hence  we  aim  not  only  for  the  vote,  but  for  the  voter  and  by  the 
voter.  Mind  sharpens  mind.  We  aim  to  exalt  the  personal 
obligation  of  the  individual  as  accountable  for  his  relationship 
to  civic  affairs.  We  teach  that  he  is  bound  to  put  his  full  moral 
weight  into  his  least  public  service. 

Citizenship  is  a  stewardship.  As  binding  as  the  law  of 
gravitation  on  matter  is  the  moral  law  that  every  steward  shall 
be  found  faithful.  To  emphasize  such  individuality  and  such 
stewardship  is  to  exalt  the  ballot.  Such  voters  could  never  be 
"  mere  chattels  of  the  chief  of  a  political  banditti  organized  to 
win  place  and  spoils."  Some  who  were  mere  pawns  for  ambi- 
tious men  to  play  in  the  game  of  politics  for  plunder  have  been 
emancipated  and  become  in  their  own  right  sovereign  citizens. 

As  its  name  suggests  Christian  citizenship  is  exalted,  that 
is  civic  duty  in  the  light  of  Christian  patriotism.  Our  members 
are  mainly  those  connected  with  our  churches,  not  that  we  would 
prevent  others,  but  that  we  would  emphasize  the  importance  of 
church  and  Christian  patriotism  in  the  profound  belief  that  every 
true  Christian  must  be  a  true  patriot. 

The  fathers  of  our  nation  at  the  very  beginning  planted  the 
church  and  the  school,  and  that,  too,  side  by  side,  because  they 
believed  that  character,  founded  upon  education  and  Christianity, 
was  the  necessary  condition  of  a  permanent  government.  We 
would  emphasize  the  fact  that  every  Christian  because  he  is  a 
Christian  must  be  a  patriot.  He,  of  all  others,  must  keep  the 
words  of  our  Lord,  not  only  to  discriminate  between  the  things 
which  belong  to  Caesar  and  those  which  belong  to  God,  but 
rightly  dividing  his  inheritance  to  "  render  "  to  Caesar  and  to 
God  the  things  which  belong  to  each.  He  must  be  mindful  of 
himself  that  his  example  shall  not  give  the  lie  to  his  utterance 


2/8  A   CHRISTIAN   CITIZENSHIP   UNION. 

or  convict  him  of  criminal  ignorance.  Hence,  in  the  working  of 
our  Union  we  look  to  ministers  of  the  gospel,  to  officers  of  our 
churches  and  to  Christian  workers  generally  for  the  fellowship 
of  effort  required.  Naturally,  our  leaders  have  drawn  the 
heaviest  fire  of  the  bread-and-butter  brigade. 

We  search  every  measure  for  its  underlying  relationship  to 
virtue  and  religion  and  set  this  before  the  community.  We 
believe  that  every  civic  problem,  fully  understood,  has  at  root  a 
moral  question.  Facts  and  truths,  rightly  interpreted,  are  never 
irreligious.  They  may  be  manipulated,  however,  against  virtue 
and  religion  just  as  great  knowledge  may  be  wielded  by  great 
wickedness.  History  is  witness  that  commerce  and  the  sciences, 
literature  and  the  arts,  may  be  utterly  indifferent  to  moral  good 
or  evil.  Civilization  itself,  unless  the  men  who  direct  its  forces 
are  virtuous,  may  wholly  destroy  truth  and  righteousness. 

Christian  citizenship  aims  not  to  secure,  but  to  protest 
against  religious  favor,  sectarian  and  divisive  in  its  fruits  for  any 
portion  of  the  community.  It  demands  of  the  authorities  that 
they  enforce  legislation  not  upon  a  religious  basis ;  that  is,  not 
for  or  because  of  some  religion,  but  because  of  common  hu- 
manity. For  instance,  the  right  to  peace  and  to  a  day  of  quiet, 
one  day  in  seven,  must  be  enforced  on  the  ground  of  humanity 
against  the  greed  that  for  gain  would  turn  the  rest-day  into 
revenue.  Religious  observance  by  law  as  alien  to  true  de- 
mocracy as  it  is  to  true  Christianity  it  denounces  unsparingly. 

To  apply  Christian  principles  to  civil  questions  is  to  lift 
higher  certain  claims  and  to  plant  deeper  certain  foundations. 
It  is  right  to  say,  "  Business  methods  must  be  enforced  by  public 
officials  in  their  conduct  of  civic  affairs."  But  is  this  all  that 
ought  to  be  said  ?  We  think  not.  To  demand  economy  and 
efficiency  because  it  is  the  best  policy  is  not  enough.  We  de- 
mand these  because  they  are  intrinsically  right,  and  hence  are 
bound  to  prove  commercially  and  nationally  right.  The  golden 
rule  has  a  place  here  also,  the  official  being  the  party  of  the 
first  part  and  the  city,  viewed  as  one  individual,  being  the  party 
of  the  second  part.  The  true  standard  is  not  the  best  political 


ALBERT    G.    LAWSON,    D.    D.  2/9 

or  even  the  best  business  methods,  for  these  are  not  always 
above  reproach,  but  the  best  morality.  Godliness  is  profitable 
for  citizenship  here  as  well  as  for  the  citizenship  which  is  in 
heaven.  We  must  appeal  to  motives  and  to  principles  above 
the  merely  successful  or  honorable.  We  must  establish  rever- 
ence for  the  fundamental  ideas  and  laws  of  human  welfare. 

Men  there  are  a  plenty  whose  ambitions  frame  their  creeds 
and  whose  appetites  rule  their  consciences.  Such  are  ever  ready 
for  unholy  alliances  in  church  or  State.  Christian  patriotism 
•will  destroy  their  loose  cry,  "  My  country,  right  or  wrong." 
The  prophets  of  Israel  were  never  truer  patriots  than  when,  in 
their  righteous  indignation,  they  were  saying:  "  Woe  unto  you, 
Jerusalem ;  woe  unto  you,  kings  and  princes."  But  it  is  not 
^enough  to  down  the  unholy.  To  the  places  they  have  dishon- 
ored we  must  exalt  men  who  have  the  intelligence  to  know  and 
the  virtue  to  do  the  truth. 

Virtue,  upspringing  from  clean  hearts,  is  to  be  preferred  in 
civic  matters,  yet  we  may  be  compelled  not  only  to  use  props, 
6ut  to  be  thankful  for  many  who  are  kept  from  falling  through 
the  sheer  force  of  public  opinion  and  of  legal  constraint.  Who 
is  self-poised  by  active  vital  forces  is  in  the  best  sense  a  freeman, 
but  better  than  nothing  is  it  to  be  kept  upright  by  canes  and 
•crutches,  or  even  by  painful  bands  and  ligatures.  "  It  is  better 
to  be  stirred  by  right  motives  than  by  material  springs  and 
pulleys  which  last  would  reduce  us  to  a  sort  of  Punch  and  Judy 
automata  of  virtue."  Who  is  self-moved  toward  pure  politics 
must  be  preferred,  but  even  he  should  be  welcomed  who,  for  the 
time  at  least  that  the  searchlight  of  public  scrutiny  burns  upon 
him,  is  aglow  with  zeal  for  good  works. 

Christian  patriotism  speaks  louder  of  things  to  be  done  than 
of  things  to  enjoy,  of  duties  than  of  rights  and  of  obligations 
than  of  opportunities.  It  teaches  serving  not  shirking,  and 
strives  to  spell  "  self"  without  capitals.  It  urges  the  duty  of  to- 
day in  the  light  of  eternity.  Christian  citizenship  (to  change 
slightly  the  language  of  Dr.  Parkhurst)  "  lifts  the  chariot  wheels 
out  of  the  muddy  ruts  of  street  honesty  for  mere  policy's  sake 


28O  A   CHRISTIAN   CITIZENSHIP   UNION. 

to  set  them  down  hard  upon  the  pavement  of  the  mind  and  will 
of  God." 

The  Union  limits  itself  to  the  city  in  its  workings  because 
it  deems  the  city  interests  to  be  of  chief  concern.  The  relation 
of  the  general  government  to  the  States  is  well  defined  ;  powers, 
privileges  and  limitations,  lines  of  independence  and  of  interde- 
pendence are  clearly  marked.  Not  so  clear  are  the  powers  of 
municipalities  and  their  place  in  our  economy  of  government. 
Our  cities  are  being  governed  in  the  main  from  the  State  capitol 
and  with  a  view  to  use  them  for  the  basest  purposes.  Legislation 
is  deliberately  entered  upon  to  rob  them  of  their  rights  and  to  de- 
liver them  over  bodily  as  a  prey  to  their  plunderers.  Think  of 
$700,000  distributed  to  officials  in  one  city  that  over  $4,000,000 
of  franchises  may  be  stolen  from  the  people.  But  this  in  form 
is  an  almost  daily  occurrence  in  some  part  of  our  land.  It  is  an 
open  secret  that  in  every  city  there  is  a  corrupt  vote  which 
awaits  bids  from  the  different  campaign  managers.  This  vote  is 
known  to  run  up  into  the  scores  of  thousands  in  some  cities. 
Within  a  month  a  certain  man  has  confessed  to  having  voted  on 
one  day  in  his  own  city  of  Philadelphia  eighteen  times.  Com- 
mittee men  for  city  control  have  openly  traded  the  highest  names 
upon  their  tickets ;  governors  and  presidential  electors  even  have 
thus  been  bartered  away.  In  this  is  witnessed  the  full  fruit  of 
dealing  lightly  with  city  affairs. 

Because  of  these  and  of  other  considerations,  we  believe  it 
is  of  the  first  importance  to  secure  good  municipal  government. 
It  will  pay  better  than  an  equal  amount  of  effort  for  good  State 
or  national  government.  It  is  of  greater  moment  to  a  child  to 
live  in  a  good  home  than  it  is  to  live  in  a  city  with  a  good  rep- 
utation. The  highest  degree  of  patriotic  citizenship  is  that 
which  relates  to  the  immediate  locality  in  which  we  live.  Light 
and  shade  lie  side  by  side,  and  the  highest  patriotism  is  just  be- 
side the  best  self-interest. 

Practical  politicians,  it  is  said,  mock  at.  any  such  notions, 
but  what  has  been  derided  as  Sunday-school  politics  and  bowed 
out  of  the  primary  and  the  convention  will  not  stay  out.  Some- 


ALBERT    G.    LAWSON,    D.    D.  28 1 


times  because  the  right  will  always  claim  a  hearing,  sometimes 
from  within  because  the  wrongs  suffered  can  no  longer  be  borne, 
there  will  always  be  a  knocking  at  the  door  for  admission.  That 
so-called  "  iridescent  dream  "  will  be  found  to  have  incarnated 
itself  in  individuals  by  the  thousand  and  the  hundred  thousand 
as  the  tide  rises.  What  it  is  right  to  think  it  is  right  to  speak 
and  to  print  and  to  do  in  the  interest  of  the  nation. 


282  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


Hotel  Rennert,  May  7,  1896,  at  7.30  P.  M. 

Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  Esq.,  presiding. 

MR.  BONAPARTE:  The  greatest  soldier  of  the  last  half  of  this  century 
•was  described  as  a  man  who  knew  how  to  be  silent  in  seven  languages. 
{Laughter).  I  don't  know  whether  that  extent  of  linguistic  requirement  is 
necessary,  but  the  other  part  of  this  description  would,  I  think,  be  highly 
appropriate  to  the  model  presiding  officer  at  a  banquet  of  this  character. 
{Laughter).  His  most  valuable  quality  is  to  know  when  to  stop  talking. 
•(Laughter).  Probably  I  shall  have  the  opportunity  of  exhibiting  a  very 
modest  approach  towards  perfection  in  that  respect  later  in  the  evening. 
{Laughter  and  applause).  For  the  moment  I  have  the  rather  harder  task 
before  me  of  saying  something  that  will  not  be  wholly  unworthy  of  what 
will  follow  from  others. 

First  of  all,  however,  I  am  requested  by  the  more  interesting  and,  of 
-course,  the  more  important  part  of  the  guests  present  to  say  to  those  less 
interesting  (laughter),  at  least  to  all  except  themselves  (laughter),  that  it  is 
the  desire  of  the  ladies  that  the  gentlemen  present  should  not  hesitate  to 
smoke  (laughter)  or  commit  any  of  the  atrocities  that  may  be  customary 
on  these  occasions.  (Laughter  and  applause). 

I  deliver  this  message  merely  because  I  am  myself  a  man  subject  to 
authority  (laughter),  and  know  from  experience  how  to  adapt  myself  to  the 
<luty  of  obedience,  and  I  do  it  the  more  reluctantly  (laughter)  because,  as 
smoking  is  one  of  the  few  vices  from  which  I  am  free  (laughter),  I  am 
very  severe  in  my  condemnation  of  it  in  others.  (Laughter). 

Passing  to  the  business  of  the  evening — we  are  here,  not  precisely  at 
the  close,  but  towards  the  close  of  the  Fourth  Annual  Conference  for  Good 
City  Government,  a  Conference  which,  resembling  in  this  respect  its  three 
predecessors,  has  resolved  itself,  in  no  small  measure,  into  an  experience 
meeting  as  to  bad  city  government.  (Laughter  and  applause). 

I  have  reason  to  believe  that  Baltimore  is,  in  some  degree,  indebted 
for  the  honor  of  entertaining  the  League  to  the  supposition,  perhaps  well 
founded  when  it  was  entertained,  which  was  a  long  time  ago  (laughter),  I 
think  in  December  or  January,  that  here  the  members  of  the  National 
League  would  find  jubilant  reformers,  and  an  atmosphere  inspiring  hope  to 
those  contemplating  the  improvement  of  their  own  city  government. 
{Laughter  and  applause).  That  was  before  many  things  had  happened. 


CHARLES   J.    BONAPARTE.  283 

(Laughter).  It  was  before  our  new  legislature  had  met  and  adjourned. 
(Laughter).  It  was  before  our  new  City  Council  had  met  and  decided  not 
to  adjourn.  (Laughter  and  applause).  It  was  before  the  appointments  to 
our  State  offices  had  been  made.  It  was  before  the  appointments  to  our 
city  offices  had  been  blocked.  (Laughter).  It  was  before,  very  decidedly 
before,  our  tax  rate  was  fixed,  or  at  least  announced.  (Laughter  and  ap- 
plause). Whether,  if  all  these  things  had  happened  before,  Baltimore 
would  have  been  selected  as  the  place  of  meeting  must  necessarily  be  a 
matter  of  speculation.  I  fear  it  would  not  have  been  selected  for  the  same 
reason.  But,  perhaps,  there  was  the  greater  cause  for  coming  here  if, 
instead  of  having  encouragement  to  get  rid  of  because  it  was  superfluous, 
we  were  in  the  more  need  of  sympathy. 

The  problem  of  good  city  government  has  not  been  solved  in  Balti- 
more as  a  result  of  the  late  election.  Personally,  I  must  admit,  that  I  have 
always  thought  this  problem  a  very  simple  one,  and  that  its  difficulty  lay 
largely  in  its  simplicity.  There  was  a  very  worthy  clergyman  here  many 
years  ago,  of  whom  it  was  said,  with  what  justice  I  am  not  called  upon  to 
•express  an  opinion,  that  the  substance  of  his  sermons  amounted  to  repeat- 
ing, with  varying  degrees  of  prolixity,  O,  brethren,  be  good.  (Laughter). 
This  might  have  been  better  said,  but  could  this  excellent  man  have  possi- 
bly have  found  anything  better  to  say?  (Laughter  and  applause).  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  work  of  the  National  Municipal  League  will  be  com- 
pleted when  the  citizens  of  all  the  great  cities  of  this  country  have  become 
such  men  as  not  to  need  this  admonition.  (Laughter  and  applause).  If 
we  have  bad  city  government,  to  my  mind  it  is  not  because  the  govern- 
ment is  organized  in  one  way  or  another,  but  it  is  because  we  have  not 
good  citizens,  or  at  least  citizens  good  enough  to  make  sure  that  their  gov- 
ernment would  be  what  good  citizens  would  procure  for  their  cities.  (Ap- 
plause). 

Now,  the  reverend  gentlemen  I  have  mentioned  I  fancy  found  that 
there  was  as  good  reason,  so  far  as  he  could  see,  for  saying  what  he  had 
the  habit  of  saying  so  often  at  the  end  of  his  long  and  useful  life  as  there 
was  at  the  beginning.  (Laughter).  I  do  not  wish  to  discourage  any  one 
present  who  is  young  enough  to  be  hopeful  (laughter),  but  I  fear  much  that 
this  League  will  have  passed  considerably  beyond  its  first  youth,  and  that 
no  small  number  of  its  members  will  have  passed  beyond  earthly  existence 
altogether,  before  its  work  has  reached  the  stage  which  I  have  indicated 
as  its  goal. 

I  venture,  therefore,  in  the  little  time  that  I  shall  further  detain  you 
from  what  you  are  waiting  to  hear,  simply  to  point  out  one  phase  of  the 
process  by  which  we  are  endeavoring  to  secure  better  government  by  en- 


284  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


deavoring  to  make  ourselves  worthy  of  better  government.  It  has  been  the 
custom  of  all  men  who  have  endeavored  to  raise  the  moral  tone  of  the 
communities  in  which  they  live  to  organize  themselves  into  brotherhoods, 
or  something  equivalent  to  that  term — perhaps  I  ought,  under  existing  cir- 
cumstances, to  say  brother  and  sisterhoods  (laughter  and  applause) — with  a 
view  to  at  once  making  their  own  labors  more  effective  and  to  making  the 
end  of  their  labors  more  definite  and  practical. 

The  idea  is  not  original  with  me,  but  I  believe  it  has  not  been  patented 
that  the  Hebrew  prophets  were  the  first  reformers.  I  do  not  venture  to 
speak  with  too  much  confidence  of  the  organization  of  the  reforming 
brotherhoods  of  their  days,  but  I  believe  it  is  tolerably  well  known  that  in 
the  Middle  Ages  when  grave  abuses  had  crept  into  the  State,  and  espe- 
cially into  the  Church,  which  then  discharged  a  great  many  of  the  func- 
tions now  imposed  upon  the  State,  those  who  were  most  impressed  with  the 
enormity  of  the  evils  and  the  necessity  of  remedy,  formed  themselves,  from 
time  to  time,  into  new  religious  orders  with  the  idea,  and,  after  a  time  at 
least,  to  a  considerable  extent,  with  the  result  of  improving  by  their  exam- 
ple, exhortation  and  personal  influence  the  conditions  against  which  their 
consciences  had  risen  in  rebellion. 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  Municipal  League  is,  in  some  measure,  an 
order  of  this  kind.  It  is  not  exactly  an  order  of  mendicant  friars  (laughter), 
although  its  committee  of  arrangements  sometimes  has  some  of  the  customs 
of  those  orders.  (Laughter).  It  does  not,  indeed,  practice  the  virtues  im- 
plied in  the  vows  of  those  orders  or  all  of  them — voluntary  poverty,  at  least, 
is  not  altogether  advisable  on  the  part  of  reformers  of  this  day  (laughter) 
— certainly  not  while  subscription  lists  continue  to  circulate  as  they  some- 
times do  (laughter) ;  but  we  are,  as  they  were,  men  and  women  who  are 
striving  to  make  ourselves  feel,  and  others  feel  as  we  do,  the  gravity  of  ex- 
isting evils,  the  imperative  necessity  of  a  prompt  and  adequate  remedy  for 
those  evils ;  and  the  no  less  imperative  obligation  upon  all  those,  recogniz- 
ing their  own  relations  as  members  of  the  community,  to  aid  in  bringing 
about  the  remedy  and  in  applying  the  remedy,  the  necessity  of  which  we 
recognize  and  feel. 

Now,  there  are  one  or  two  practical  consequences  which  I  venture  to 
press  upon  your  attention,  as  the  disagreeable  part  of  my  remarks,  and  the 
only  disagreeable  part  which  you  need  apprehend  in  the  remarks  that  you 
will  hear  this  evening. 

In  the  first  place,  it  was  a  cardinal  principle  of  all  the  successful  re- 
ligious orders — in  fact,  it  is  the  vital  principle  of  all  successful,  effective 
agitation  to  any  end,  that  this  agitation  should  be  conducted  in  an  orderly 
manner  and  with  a  strict  discipline.  Every  one  of  the  orders  to  which  I 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  28$ 


refer  had  its  boss.  (Laughter).  Every  one  of  them  insisted  upon  abso- 
lute, unqualified,  unquestioning  obedience  to  his  orders ;  and  if  there  de- 
veloped itself  when  they  had  accomplished  some  results,  at  least  tempora- 
rily encouraging,  that  form  of  acute  adult  hydrocephalus,  which  is  said  to 
make  terrible  ravages  (laughter)  among  reformers  after  a  successful  cam- 
paign (laughter)  measures  were  taken  to  cure  it,  which  were  no  less  prompt, 
decisive  and  effective  than  if  they  had  been  aided  with  all  the  resources  of 
the  medical  science  of  to-day. 

At  the  same  time  there  was  another  principle  observed,  which,  I  fear, 
the  successors  of  these  apostles  of  righteousness  sometimes  overlook,  and 
that  is  that  as  soon  as  their  bosses  began  to  be  on  the  wane,  as  soon  as 
their  effectiveness  as  leaders — and  let  me  say  that  whether  a  man  is  called 
a  prior,  or  a  general,  or  a  president,  or  a  chairman,  or  a  secretary  of  coun- 
cil, if  he  discharges  the  functions  of  the  man  who  directs  the  work  and  lays 
out  the  line  which  others  shall  follow,  he  is,  for  the  purposes  of  my  speech, 
and  for  no  others,  a  boss  (laughter) ;  as  soon  as  it  was  found  that  the  shelf 
was  the  proper  place  for  them,  they  were  respectfully  and  tenderly,  but  de- 
cisively, laid  on  the  shelf.  (Laughter  and  applause). 

Now,  I  venture  to  recommend,  and  I  speak  as  one  who  has  filled  in  a 
very  humble  degree  and  with  very  moderate  results,  the  position  which  I 
have  thus  described  (laughter  and  applause) — I  venture  to  recommend  the 
strict  observance  of  those  two  rules  of  conduct  to  all  the  reformers  who  are 
seeking  in  the  cities  of  this  country,  and  even  in  the  wider  fields  to  which 
the  labors  of  this  League  must  almost  inevitably  lead  any  one  in  promoting 
good  government  amongst  us — to  observe  carefully  the  rule  of  not  interfer- 
ing with  their  bosses  while  they  are  worthy  to  boss,  but  to  fill  their  places 
the  moment  that  they  are  no  longer  able  to  lead. 

I  have  now  said,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  all  the  unpleasant  things  that 
I  can  think  of,  or,  at  all  events,  that  I  feel  called  upon  to  say,  and  I  will 
ask  the  President  of  the  National  Municipal  League,  my  friend,  Mr.  Carter, 
to  correct  the  unfavorable  impression  I  have  left.  (Laughter  and  applause). 

MR.  JAMES  C.  CARTER  :  Mr.  Chairman  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 
I  shall  be  a  very  poor  hand  to  correct  the  unfavorable  impressions  which 
my  friend,  Mr.  Bonaparte,  may  make  upon  any  audience.  I  feel,  how- 
ever, that  the  National  Municipal  League  may  very  much  congratulate 
itself  upon  this  very  brilliant  banquet ;  I  think  I  may  safely,  and  without 
flattery,  say  the  finest  banquet  that  the  League  has  witnessed  at  any  time 
since  its  formation.  (Applause).  There  are  many  circumstances  which 
combine  to  make  it  so.  It  is  much  larger  in  numbers,  I  think,  than  any ; 
much  more  numerously  attended  than  any  we  have  had  before — I  think 


286  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


much  more  numerously  attended,  it  occurred  to  me  as  I  came  in,  than  our 
daily  sessions  in  the  hall  have  been.  (Laughter  and  applause).  Whether 
this  is  possibly  for  the  reason  that  the  fare  over  here  is  more  preferable 
than  that  which  was  extended  to  them  over  there  I  cannot  say.  (Laughter 
and  applause).  Then,  too,  this  banquet  has  an  incident  which,  so  far  as  I 
am  aware  of,  is  peculiar  to  this  one  of  the  National  Municipal  League — 
the  presence  of  the  fair  here.  (Applause).  We  had  them  at  our  last  ban- 
quet at  the  city  of  Cleveland,  but  then  they  were  all  arrayed  by  them- 
selves like  a  company  of  Quaker  women.  To-night,  I  am  rejoiced  to  per- 
ceive, that  they  come,  as  they  should  dOj  and  sit  by  our  sides  (laughter) — 
at  least  by  your  sides  (laughter  and  applause) — a  partiality  which  I  must 
not  eulogize,  for  none  sit  at  this  table.  (Laughter  and  applause).  They 
come  and  sit  at  our  sides,  too,  I  observe,  unterrified  and  unmoved  by  the 
recollection  which  possibly  some  of  them  have  of  the  sudden  extinction  of 
all  the  lights  which  met  us  at  the  banquet  at  Cleveland.  (Laughter  and 
applause). 

Passing  from  the  banquet  to  our  regular  sessions,  I  must  express  my 
grateful  appreciation  of  what  I  conceive  to  be  their  excellence  this  year. 
I  have  always  received  a  great  deal  of  instruction  from  them  and  no  little 
amusement.  (Laughter  and  applause).  I  think  we  had  a  good  deal  of 
the  latter  quality  this  afternoon  in  the  accounts  given  of  the  municipal 
condition,  by  our  friends  from  the  South,  of  the  cities  of  the  South.  Noth- 
ing could  bjB  more  ludicrous  than  the  pictures  they  presented  to  us  of  the 
municipal  government  in  Memphis,  in  Nashville,  and  in  certain  places  in 
the  State  of  Georgia. 

I  thought  for  a  moment  that  possibly  the  speakers  had  imagined  that 
they  were  to  deliver  those  addresses  at  some  banquet  where  fun  and  merri- 
ment were  the  principal  objects  (laughter),  for  they  were  excellently  calcu- 
lated to  arouse  those  emotions.  But  then  this  further  thought  occurred  to 
me,  and  occurred  to  me  for  the  first  time,  and  that  is  how  curious  it  is  that 
we  should  laugh  ourselves  almost  to  pieces  over  the  absurdity  which  munic- 
ipal government  in  various  places  exhibits.  We  seem  to  contemplate  the 
occupants  of  official  places,  very  often  the  men  who  we  are  in  the  habit  of 
calling  spoilsmen,  the  men  whom  we  look  upon  as  political  heelers,  trading 
politicians  and  men  of  that  sort  as  if  they  were  beings  from  a  different 
sphere,  having  no  connection  with  ourselves,  as  if  they  were  plagues  sent 
upon  us  by  another  power — like  the  plague  of  locusts  in  Egypt — and  yet 
what  are  they  after  all  ?  They  are  not  these  ;  they  are  our  own  flesh  and 
blood ;  they  are,  in  short,  ourselves.  And  I  have  thought  that  if  the  evil 
one  himself  had  come  down  he  would  have  burst  with  laughter  to  have 
seen  it,  and  would  have  said:  "  Why  here  are  these  fellows  making  merry,. 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  287 


splitting  themselves  with  merriment  over  themselves."  (Laughter).  And 
yet  this  is  really  so ;  and  that  calls  to  my  mind  a  maxim,  for  which  I  an> 
indebted  to  my  good  friend  who  now  presides  over  this  table,  Mr.  Bona- 
parte. 

He  has  had  a  fashion  of  always  impressing  this  thing  upon  others^ 
upon  those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact,  in  reference  to  civil  service 
reform  ;  and  that  maxim  is  the  one  he  has  repeated  in  substance  to-night 
that  we  have  just  as  good  government,  just  as  good  municipal  government 
as  we  deserve.  (Applause).  How  true  all  that  is.  The  government  of  a 
municipality — a  municipality  itself — may  be  personified  or  dealt  with  just 
as  an  individual.  It  has  its  virtues  and  it  has  its  vices,  and  as  these  ex- 
hibit themselves  they  actually  and  correctly  represent  the  constitution  of  the 
materials  of  which  it  is  made.  You  never  can  get  out  of  it ;  you  never  can 
get  rid  of  it,  and  you  never  can  do  anything  with  it  satisfactorily  except  by 
reforming  it,  and  in  reforming  it  you  have  only  to  reform  yourselves.  You 
never  must  look  upon  it  as  a  different  thing.  You  must  never  look  upon  it 
as  a  plague  sent  upon  you  from  abroad ;  they  are  your  own  vices  and  our 
own  vices.  We,  all  of  us,  every  individual  at  this  table,  has  alive  in  his- 
own  bosom  a  secret  and  sleeping  boss  which  it  only  needs  the  requisite 
amount  of  temptation,  the  absence  of  self-discipline,  to  call  into  mischievous- 
activity.  (Applause).  It  sometimes  reminds  me  of  that  incomprehensible 
little  poem  which  Emerson  once  wrote  under  some  inspiration  drawn 
from  some  oriental  mysticism,  that  poem  which  begins,  "  If  the  red  slayer 
thinks  he  slays,"  in  some  part  of  which  he  says : 

"  They  reckon  ill  who  leave  me  out, 
When  me  they  fly ;  I  am  the  wings,  I  am  the  doubter  and  the  doubt.' r 

Shakespeare  repeats  the  same  idea  in  one  of  his  plays.     He  says : 
"  The  fault,  dear  Brutus,  lies  not  in  our  stars, 
But  in  ourselves  that  we  are  underlings." 

Therefore,  the  first  thing  to  do  if  we  want  better  municipal  government, 
improved  municipal  government,  is  to  improve  ourselves ;  to  lift  all  our 
own  standards  of  excellence  higher  and  to  do  our  own  duties  better.  When 
we  do  this,  why  we  shall  better  prosper.  (Applause).  This  shows  the 
eternal  and  everlasting  inefficiency  of  laws  and  the  equally  everlasting  in- 
efficiency of  men  to  accomplish  a  great  work  like  that  which  we  are  seek- 
ing to  do.  (Applause). 

How  well  that  was  illustrated  this  afternoon  in  many  things  that  we 
heard.  We  heard  accounts  from  the  city  of  Nashville  and  from  the  city  of 
Memphis  in  respect  to  their  city  governments,  and  during  our  sessions  we 


288  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


have  heard  accounts  from  many  other  places  in  which  the  writers  criticise 
the  charters  of  the  municipalities  which  were  in  force,  and  said  the  trouble 
is  our  charter  requires  this  and  that  which  ought  to  be  amended  and  done 
away  with ;  in  our  municipal  government,  it  is  said,  there  ought  to  be  re- 
quirements in  the  laws  by  which  they  are  governed,  for  this  thing,  that 
thing  and  the  other  thing  ;  or  the  trouble  with  our  city  charter  is  this.  An- 
other gentleman  speaks  of  the  state  of  things  in  Atlanta,  Ga.  There  is  an 
excellent  city  government  there  according  to  his  account,  and  I  do  not 
doubt  it  is  a  correct  one.  Everything,  he  says,  is  in  pretty  good  order,  ex- 
cellent order.  The  taxes  are  light,  the  public  service'  is  well  performed, 
the  schools  are  good,  the  streets  are  clean,  the  police  performs  its  duty  and 
the  whole  machinery  of  municipal  government  appears  to  be  moving  with 
an  excellent  degree  of  efficiency.  He  attributed,  in  a  large  part,  the  virtue 
of  that,  the  cause  of  that  success,  to  the  excellent  charter  that  they  had ; 
and  yet  I  could  not  but  observe  that  that  same  excellent  charter  was  exactly 
the  same  thing  in  all  its  substantial  provisions  as  these  others  are,  which 
have  been  condemned  by  the  other  speakers  as  being  the  source  of  their 
evils.  (Laughter). 

It  is  not  in  laws,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  your  salvation  is  to  be 
found.  Not  at  all.  Whatever  the  laws  may  be,  if  you  will  only  take  the 
trouble,  employ  the  resolution  and  exhibit  the  constancy,  which  I  am  sure 
has  been  exhibited  in  the  good  city  of  Atlanta,  and  put  good  men  in  office, 
you  will  find  that  you  have  got  most  excellent  charters.  (Applause). 

Now,  I  am  not  going  to  speak  any  longer.  The  hour  does  not  admit 
of  long  speeches  here,  and  I  had  a  good  long  hour  assigned  to  me  last 
evening  to  deliver  all  my  commonplaces,  and  I  am  sure  you  got  an  abun- 
dance of  them  then.  (Laughter).  What  I  have  said  just  now  is  from  the 
text  which  my  friend,  Mr.  Bonaparte,  has  frequently  laid  down  for  us ;  and 
this  is  the  important  point  which  I  wish  to  leave  with  you,  if  you  are  will- 
ing to  take  anything  from  me,  and  that  is,  to  remember  that  we  shall 
always  enjoy  just  about  as  good  city  government  as  we  deserve,  and  we  may 
enjoy  the  best  city  government  that  we  want  to  have  if  we  only  choose  to 
make  the  requisite  effort  for  it.  (Great  applause). 

THE  TOASTMASTER  :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  The  brotherhood  that  I 
have  described  has  a  natural  enemy,  and  that  enemy  is  the  public  officer. 
Reformers  who  are  satisfied  with  the  government  under  which  they  live 
would  be  very  poor  kind  of  reformers.  As  soon  as  you  find  them  stopping 
their  criticism  and  fault-finding  and  adopting  the  tone  of  apologists,  there 
is  a  suspicion  that  they  have  given  up  the  diet  of  locusts  and  wild  honey 
and  are  preparing  themselves  for  another  kind  of  diet  at  the  governmental 
table.  (Laughter).  Therefore,  it  is  a  little  less  than  phenomenal ;  it  would 


HON.    ALCAEUS    HOOPER.  289 


be  remarkable  anywhere,  and  I  do  not  think  the  language  I  have  just  used 
is  exaggerated  in  Baltimore  when  I  find,  on  looking  around,  the  Mayor  of 
the  city  next  to  me  at  a  banquet  of  this  organization.  (Laughter  and  ap- 
plause). He  asked  me  if  some  way  could  not  be  found  by  which  he  could 
get  rid  of  making  a  speech.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  answering  that  question 
in  the  negative.  (Applause).  But  I  have  been  endeavoring  since  then  to 
think  of  the  subject  on  which  I  would  ask  him  to  say  to  us  what  he  had  to 
say.  The  only  subject  that  occurred  to  me  was — "  What  I  Think  of  City 
Councils."  (Laughter  and  applause).  But  inasmuch  as  that  is  a  topic 
specially  assigned  for  to-morrow  morning's  session  of  the  Conference,  and 
as  no  one  might  care  to  attend  that  session  if  they  had  already  heard  all 
they  wished  to  hear,  as  they  probably  would  (laughter)  of  the  topic  with 
which  it  has  to  deal,  I  have  determined  that  I  would  leave  the  selection  of 
his  topic  to  the  Mayor  himself,  confident  that  in  that  respect,  as  in  all 
others,  his  selection  would  be  a  wise  one.  (Applause). 

As  Hon.  Alcaeus  Hooper  arose  to  respond  some  one  said  :  "  Stand  on 
a  chair." 

MR.  HOOPER  :  There  appears  to  be  a  strange  fatality  about  some 
words ;  I  don't  know  why  it  is,  but  that  remark  always  follows  me  where- 
«ver  I  go.  (Laughter).  It  reminds  me  of  the  campaign.  (Laughter).  It 
was  everywhere  called  out  at  me,  and  my  reply  was,  that  I  was  not  to  be 
elected  to  stand  in  a  chair,  but  to  try  to  fill  one.  (Laughter  and  applause). 
I  have  been  trying  to  fill  one  for  five  months  and  with  very  little  satisfac- 
tion— to  some  people.  (Laughter  and  applause). 

In  asking  your  toastmaster  to-night  if  he  could  not  by  some  possible 
means  excuse  me  from  speaking,  owing  to  the  fact  that  I  did  not  feel  in 
physical  condition  to  do  so,  there  was  another  reason  that  prompted  me 
to  make  the  request,  which  was,  judging  from  the  speeches  that  I  have 
heard  and  from  the  papers  that  I  have  read,  emanating  from  the  members 
of  this  society,  I  must  confess  to  you  that  there  is  very  little  more  to  be 
said  on  the  subject  of  good  municipal  government. 

Our  friend,  the  toastmaster,  to-night  has  compared  the  civil  service  re- 
formers, the  members  of  reform  leagues  and  good  government  clubs  to 
religious  orders.  I  presume  it  would  be  proper  to  say  that  they  are  mis- 
sionaries. These  municipal  leagues  and  good  government  clubs  to  be 
found  in  all  parts  of  our  country  are  no  doubt  bands  of  missionaries  to  the 
American  people  to  show  them  a  more  excellent  way  towards  a  higher 
political  civilization.  As  missionaries  of  spiritual  and  ethical  religions  find 
it  necessary  to  have  a  short  and  clear  statement  of  their  essential  doctrines 
so  as  to  preach  frequently  from  this  standard  sermons  in  order  to  convince 
the  savages  or  less  spiritually-minded  people  to  whom  they  go  of  the  es- 


29O  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


sential  necessity  of  the  adoption  of  their  doctrines,  I  would  suggest  to  the 
reform  leagues  of  this  country  that  they  select  a  text  which,  I  think,  will 
appeal  to  the  practical  people  of  the  United  States  in  these  words  :  "  Why 
will  ye  spend  your  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread  ?"  (Laughter  and 
applause). 

The  course  of  the  missionaries  of  the  higher  cult  will  be  marked  by 
the  same  phases  as  meet  you  missionaries  to  the  benighted  Americans.  In 
many  places  you  will  be  received  ;  your  doctrines  will  become  fashionable  ; 
your  theories  will  be  accepted  ;  they  will  soon  become  obliterated,  and  even 
the  memory  of  your  preaching  will  have  passed  away.  Other  places  you 
will  soon  leave  disgusted,  and  will  shake  off  from  your  feet  the  very  dust 
of  the  people  whom  you  attempted  to  benefit.  And  yet,  I  will  say  to  those 
of  our  friends  who  are  discouraged  at  the  progress  of  reform,  as  seen  in 
some  of  the  cities  in  which  they  have  been  making  efforts,  that  it  may  be 
with  them  as  the  history  of  missionary  efforts  in  the  religious  field  have 
proven,  that  frequently  the  seed  sown  has  simply  suspended  germination, 
and  after  awhile  it  has  broken  forth  and  germination  has  begun,  and  lo  and 
behold,  the  result  of  the  harvest  is  an  hundredfold.  This  has  been  seen 
not  only  as  far  as  Christianity  is  concerned,  but  in  other  movements,  and  I 
say  to  you,  my  good  brethren  of  the  missionary  band,  do  not  give  up  try- 
ing to  reform  us  poor  politicians.  (Laughter  and  applause).  You  have  an 
ample  and  abundant  field  in  which  to  work.  (Laughter).  I  can  assure 
you  we  need  all  your  prayers,  we  need  all  of  your  sermons,  we  need  all  of 
your  self-denyings ;  and  I  say  to  you  that  after  while,  I  sincerely  believe  as 
a  good  American,  as  I  hope  I  am,  that  all  these  sermons  which  you  have 
been  preaching,  all  these  self-denying  efforts  which  you  have  been  exerting, 
will  certainly  in  the  very  near  future,  and  I  say  that  advisedly,  I  believe  in 
the  very  near  future,  that  the  people  of  America  will  wake  up  to  the  fact 
that  they  are  spending  their  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread,  politically. 
I  say  to  you  that  when  the  American  people,  with  their  practical  common 
sense,  realize  that  a  too  close  adherence  to  party  brings  upon  them  in- 
creased taxation  and  a  deteriorated  public  service,  I  say  to  you  then,  and 
at  once,  when  they  realize  that  they  will  hold  their  party  allegiance  only  to 
the  point  where  the  party  properly  acts  as  their  agent  in  the  securing  of 
good  government.  (Applause). 

I  hardly  know  what  to  say  to-night  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  field 
has  been  so  thoroughly  covered  by  my  friends  who  have  spoken,  and,  pos- 
sibly, therefore,  you  missionaries  would  rather  that  I  would  give  you  a  little 
experience.  (Laughter  and  applause).  I  have  found,  as  you  know,  that 
it  is  very  often  hard  to  put  theories  into  practice.  (Laughter).  You  gen- 
tlemen are  looking  upon  the  question  of  good  government  as  outside  ob- 


HON.    ALCAEUS    HOOPER. 


servers.  I  feel  every  morning  that  I  would  like  to  open  the  windows  and 
say  :  Come  in,  my  brethren,  and  see  how  it  is  yourselves.  (Laughter  and 
applause).  I  only  wish  that  I  could  provide  sufficient  accommodations  for 
you  in  a  certain  office  not  very  far  from  here,  that  you  might  see  how  a 
city  government  is  run.  But  I  will  say  this  to  you,  that  the  theory  that  was 
advanced  upon  the  platform  during  the  campaign  by  me,  not  original  with 
me,  by  any  means,  was  that  a  municipal  government  was  a  corporation, 
and  that  its  functions  were  similar  to  those  of  a  corporation  whose  object 
was  to  make  profits  for  its  stockholders.  I  announced  that  theory  at  that 
time,  and  I  will  say  to  you,  my  brothers  of  the  missionary  band,  that  to  my 
mind,  after  five  months'  experience,  that  is  the  true  conception  of  munic- 
ipal government.  (Applause).  I  fail  to  see  where  the  theory  is  at  fault,. 
and  why  the  same  methods,  which  are  essentially  necessary  for  the  success- 
ful operation  of  large  corporations,  should  not  be  the  same  methods  to  ber 
pursued  in  chartered  cities  and  towns.  I  cannot  but  feel  that  the  only  es- 
sential difference  is  that  the  profits  in  the  one  case  result  in  a  dividend  to- 
the  stockholders  in  the  form  of  cash,  while  in  the  municipal  corporation  an 
application  of  identically  the  same  principles  and  identically  the  same 
methods  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  ends  in  view  as  applied  to  corpora- 
tions will  produce  profits  to  the  stockholder  of  the  municipal  corporation 
—  that  is  the  taxpayer  —  but  only  with  this  difference  :  in  the  one  case  it  will 
be  in  the  form  of  cash  and  in  the  other  the  dividends  is  in  the  form  of  better 
government,  better  school-houses,  more  efficient  teachers,  better  pavements, 
better  sewers,  a  more  cleanly  condition  of  the  city,  and,  eventually,  lower 
taxes.  (Applause). 

If  that  is  correct,  and  I  believe  it  is,  and  I  believe  that  you  agree  with  , 
me  that  it  is,  I  can  see  very  little  field  in  the  government  of  cities  for  the 
operation  of  strictly  party  politics.  I  can  see  no  reason  why  we  should  not 
bring  into  the  government  of  cities  the  very  best  brains  of  the  city, 
whether  that  be  the  brains  of  women  or  of  men.  (Applause).  I  am  not 
a  woman's-rights  man  by  any  means.  (Laughter).  I  only  belong  to  that 
selfish  band  of  men  who  want  to  get  all  the  good  things  we  see,  and  if  a 
woman's  brain  can  give  it  to  us  I  am  going  to  seize  it.  (Laughter  and  ap- 
plause). 

But  Mr.  Carter  to-night  has  struck  the  keynote.  It  makes  very  little 
difference  what  our  theories  are  ;  it  makes  very  little  difference  what 
the  charters  are,  although,  of  course,  if  you  have  a  city  with  a  good 
charter  and  men  who  are  willing  to  execute  the  laws  according  to- 
the  charter  it  will  be  a  guide  on  which  they  can  lean.  Yet,  I  do  think  that 
if  in  this  country  you  band  of  missionaries  were  to  turn  your  attention  to 
the  accomplishment  of  one  thing  you  would  succeed  a  great  deal  better 


292  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


than  you  have,  and  that  is  this :  Our  friends  across  the  water  in  Great 
Britain  have  realized  some  years  ago  the  necessity  of  studying  the  munic- 
ipal problem  and  putting  the  result  of  their  thoughts  into  a  concrete  form 
in  the  way  of  a  uniform  charter  for  all  the  towns  and  cities  in  Great  Britain. 
I  believe,  therefore,  if  you  gentlemen,  after  you  have  had  an  opportunity 
to  divert  your  attention  from  the  securing  of  honest  elections,  and  that  ap- 
pears to  be  the  necessity  of  the  hour,  if,  after  while,  you  do  not  become  dis- 
couraged you  would  turn  your  attention  to  forming  charters  suitable  for  the 
cities  of  the  United  States  so  that  men,  elected  to  execute  the  laws  accord- 
ing to  those  charters,  will  have  the  result  of  experience,  and  will  not  have 
to  be  constantly  experimenting  you  will  find  you  have  helped  them  won- 
derfully. 

But  again.  It  makes  very  little  difference  if,  after  you  have  selected 
this  charter,  you  do  not  select  men  and  give  them  your  support  and  let 
them  feel  that  they  are  not  dependent  upon  any  organization  of  spoilsmen, 
any  organization  of  party  leaders  who  have  brains  enough  to  be  executive 
officers,  but  have  not  principle  enough  to  be  patriotic.  (Applause). 

I  think  it  would  be  wise  if  such  charters  were  adopted  and  it  was  seen 
to  that  there  should  be  flexibility  in  the  appointment  and  removal  of  the 
heads  of  the  departments  from  mayor  down.  If  they  do  not  represent  the 
sentiment  of  the  voters  let  them  be  frequently  removed.  But  I  do  say  to 
you,  after  five  months'  experience  as  mayor  of  this  city,  that  I  cannot  help 
feeling  that  the  principal  cause  of  municipal  corruption  is  the  way  in  which 
we  appoint  our  officers. 

You  will  note  that  the  same  principles  we  find  necessary  for  the  suc- 
cessful operation  of  financial  and  mercantile  organizations  are  not  applied 
here.  I  do  not  care  much  what  may  be  the  requirements  prior  to  the 
selection  of  the  subordinate  officers,  but  I  do  think  that  men,  when  they 
are  selected  to  the  subordinate  positions  in  a  city  corporation,  should  have 
an  indefinite  term  of  service. 

I  want  to  call  attention  to  one  fact  in  Baltimore  which,  to  my  mind,  is 
the  cause  of  a  great  deal  of  corruption.  Possibly  you  are  not  aware  of  it, 
but  every  man  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  from  the  mayor  down,  except  the 
fire  department,  is  appointed  for  a  fixed  term  of  two  years ;  and  I  can 
assure  you  if  you  gentlemen  of  leisure  want  some  hard  work,  just  be 
elected  mayor  at  a  time  when  the  said  two  years  expire  and  if  you  won't 
confess  that  it  gives  you  all  the  work  you  want  and  is  a  source  of  tremen- 
dous evil,  I  will  then  say  that  I  am  mistaken.  Just  think  of  it.  The  mayor 
of  the  city  is  necessarily  required  to  begin  at  the  top  of  the  appointive  list 
and  consider  the  fitness  of  every  man  of  the  thousand  men  neces- 
sary to  properly  officer  the  city.  His  character  must  be  scrutinized  and 


FREDERICK    WILLIAM    HOLLS.  293 

__ * 

his  efficiency  examined  into  and  appointed  in  the  short  time  succeeding 
his  election,  as  the  law  requires,  when  he  comes  into  office. 

If  in  your  business  bookkeepers  are  necessary  and  are  kept  in  service 
a  long  term  of  years,  so  that  in  the  latter  part  of  their  service  you  can  have 
the  benefit  of  their  experience  to  offset  their  lack  of  experience  when  they 
first  came  into  your  service,  why  should  not  the  city  of  Baltimore  and  other 
cities  have  their  subordinate  officers  elected  or  appointed  for  a  term  with- 
out any  definite  limit  only  so  long  as  they  remain  mentally,  morally  and 
physically  efficient?  (Applause).  Change  your  mayors  frequently,  your 
comptrollers,  registers  and  chiefs  of  departments,  but  let  the  under  servants 
remain  so  long  as  they  are  fitted  to  fill  the  bill.  (Applause). 

THE  TOASTMASTER  :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  In  the  last  hours  of  its 
life,  or  at  least  of  its  manifestation  of  life,  the  General  Assembly  of  this 
State  proposed  to  the  voters  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  which, 
whatever  its  effects,  if  it  shall  be  adopted,  or  whatever  may  be  the  effects 
of  the  attempt  to  adopt  it,  has  already  furnished  occasion  for  no  little 
amount  of  cerebral  perspiration  to  the  governing  body  of  the  Civil  Service 
Reform  Association  of  Maryland.  (Laughter  and  applause).  That  amend- 
ment was  copied  with  some  slight  differences,  or  some  differences  which 
may,  or  may  not,  prove  to  be  slight,  from  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  which  also  attracted  attention  from  a  body 
of  less  importance,  perhaps,  than  the  executive  committee  of  our  Civil 
Service  Reform  Association,  but  still  well  known ;  I  refer  to  the  Court  of 
Appeals  of  that  State.  (Laughter  and  applause). 

Now,  we  are  fortunate  in  having  with  us  this  evening  the  gentleman 
who  introduced  that  amendment  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  he  will  make  some  simple  amends  for  all  the 
trouble  he  has  caused  us  here  by  telling  us  the  story  of  its  introduction.  I 
have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Mr.  Holls,  of  New  York. 

MR.  FREDERICK  WILLIAM  HOLLS  :  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gen- 
tlemen :  The  message  of  the  State  of  New  York  to  this  National  Municipal 
League  is,  I  fear,  of  a  mixed  character.  So  far  as  municipal  experience, 
in  the  narrow  view  of  the  word,  is  concerned,  we  have  indeed  only  to  join 
the  experience  meeting  of  bad  city  governments  which  we  had  this  after- 
noon at  the  Conference,  with  some  redeeming  features.  There  is  much  to 
discourage  municipal  reformers  in  our  State  as  in  every  other  of  this 
country ;  but  there  is  very  little  to  allow  or  justify  the  slightest  exhibition  of 
pessimism.  The  struggle  may  be  difficult,  but  in  the  very  lines,  which  your 
chairman  has  just  indicated,  the  message  of  the  State  of  New  York  to  you, 
and  to  all  who  are  engaged  in  the  task  of  lifting  our  political  life  up  to  a 
higher  plane,  is  one  of  distinct  encouragement.  (Applause). 


294  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


There  was  an  editorial  a  few  weeks  ago  in  one  of  the  New  York  papers, 
which  had  the  suggestive  title,  "  What  We  Have  Gained  by  Accident." 
The  principal  accident  which  was  treated  in  that  article  was  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  of  1894  in  the  State  of  New  York.  To  the  nomination 
of  an  unfit  candidate  for  the  Court  of  Appeals  as  the  crowning  sin  of  an 
iniquitous  political  machine,  we  in  New  York  owed  an  awakening  which, 
while  it  lasted,  was  grand  and  glorious.  I  am  sorry  to  say  all  of  its 
effects  do  not  deserve  the  same  commendation.  But  one  of  the  results 
was  the  adoption  of  a  Constitution  in  which  was  contained  the  first  amend- 
ment for  civil  service  reform  that  was  ever  adopted  by  an  American  State. 
The  task  of  introducing  and  of  arguing  in  favor  of  such  an  amendment  is 
a  pleasure,  and  it  is  a  gratifying  experience  to  any  one  who  believes  in  the 
principle.  I  need  only  to  say  that  the  Convention  adopted  it  by  a  very 
narrow  majority  and  without  knowing,  I  am  afraid,  in  the  case  of  many 
who  voted  for  the  amendment,  just  how  much  it  might  possibly  mean. 
(Laughter  and  applause). 

In  fact,  the  question  was  asked  during  the  debate  whether  the  amend- 
ment needed  legislation  or  not  in  order  to  make  it  practically  effective. 
The  answer  was  given  that,  in  the  opinion  of  its  friends,  it  probably  re- 
quired legislation.  (Laughter  and  applause).  But,  at  the  same  time,  it 
was  claimed  that  the  amendment  as  drawn  conferred  rights  upon  individual 
citizens,  and  so  far  as  it  did  that  it  would  not  require  legislation. 

Well,  it  was  adopted,  and  since  its  adoption  it  has  come  under  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  that  tribunal  has  decided  that  it  did 
not  require  legislation  to  make  it  effective,  and  that  it  did  confer  rights  upon 
individual  citizens  which  every  court  was  bound  to  respect  and  enforce.  It 
forced  the  right  upon  every  citizen  of  the  State  of  New  York  to  have  his 
qualifications  for  any  appointive  subordinate  office  decided  by  competitive 
examination  with  any  other  man  who  wishes  to  be  a  candidate  for  that  posi- 
tion. (Applause).  The  only  limitation  is  that  the  appointing  power  must 
say  that  it  was  practicable  to  have  a  competitive  examination. 

Now  thai  word  "  practicable  "  was  the  word  which  the  politicians  in  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  and  in  the  campaign  which  followed  it,  looked 
to  as  the  sheet  anchor  of  their  hopes.  They  hoped  it  would  be  always 
possible  to  have  the  Civil  Service  Commission  or  governor  or  legislature, 
to  say  that  competitive  examinations  were,  on  the  whole,  not  practicable. 
The  Court  of  Appeals  has  destroyed  that  last  lingering  hope.  It  has  said 
that  the  burden  is  upon  the  appointing  power  in  every  case  to  say  whether 
or  not  it  is  practicable  to  have  a  competitive  examination,  and  that  this  ac- 
tion of  the  appointing  power,  like  every  other  action  of  an  administrative 
officer,  is  subject  to  the  review  of  the  courts  on  a  writ  of  ctrtiorari.  (Ap- 
plause). 


FREDERICK    WILLIAM    ROLLS.  2Q5 

This  is  what  we  accomplished  in  New  York  and  this  you  can  accom- 
plish in  Maryland.  (Applause).  You  can  have  the  fundamental  law  of 
the  State,  which  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  legislature  and  of  the  bosses, 
to  say  to  each  man  and  each  aspiring  young  person  in  the  entire  State  : 
You  have  the  right  to  have  your  qualifications  for  State  service  tested  by 
competition  in  open  examination  without  fear  or  favor  of  any  political  boss 
or  organization.  (Applause).  If  you  are  met  by  the  appointing  power 
with  the  remark  that  it  is  not  practicable  to  test  you  in  this  way,  and  if  you 
feel  aggrieved,  you  can  go  to  the  courts  and  the  courts  will  undoubtedly  en- 
force your  rights. 

Now,  gentlemen,  we  in  New  York,  rightly  or  wrongly,  certainly  do 
consider  this  a  great  step  in  advance  for  good  government ;  and  with  ref- 
erence to  the  pending  amendment  in  this  State,  or  to  the  same  idea  which 
may  be  embodied  in  a  proposed  amendment  in  any  other  State,  I  would 
only  say  from  my  own  brief  experience  in  the  campaign  before  the  people, 
after  the  Convention  had  presented  this  amendment  for  adoption,  in  every 
meeting  at  which  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  argue  in  favor  of  our  work,  I 
found  that  the  good  people,  and  thinking  people,  of  every  community,  re- 
sponded most  enthusiastically  to  the  arguments  in  favor  of  civil  service 
reform.  (Applause). 

It  is  one  of  the  most  mistaken  impressions,  in  my  opinion,  on  the  part 
of  the  so-called  practical  politicians  that  can  possibly  be  imagined,  that  the 
people  at  large  generally  do  not  care  about  civil  service  reform.  The 
only  people  who  do  not  care  about  it,  who  are  indifferent  to  it,  are  the  peo- 
ple to  whom  it  has  never  been  fairly  explained.  All  the  others,  all  that 
know  it,  either  hate  it  as  the  devil  hates  holy  water  (laughter)  or  love  it  as 
a  patriot  loves  his  country.  (Applause).  The  fight,  as  I  said  in  the  be- 
ginning, for  better  municipal  government,  for  higher  politics  in  this  country, 
is  now  at  its  height.  It  is  certainly  not  won,  but  on  the  other  hand,  it  is 
not  lost ;  and  the  one  motto,  the  one  text  which  I  think  we  reformers  have 
most  need  to  remember  as  we  go  on  with  the  work,  is  the  one  that  was 
given  at  the  decisive  moment  in  the  battle  of  Waterloo — and  I  may  be  par- 
doned for  quoting  it  in  a  State  which  has  produced  both  a  Bonaparte  and 
a  Wellington  (laughter  and  applause) — when  the  British  commander  at  the 
critical  moment  said  to  the  victorious  troops,  "  Patience,  gentlemen,  and 
forward."  (Applause). 

THE  TOASTMASTER  :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  Civil  service  reform  is 
not  only  the  most  essential  feature,  at  least  in  my  very  poor  opinion,  of  the 
work  on  which  we  are  especially  engaged,  but  it  also  has  a  wider  scope. 
Its  aim  is  not  merely  to  improve  our  municipal  government,  but  to  give  us 
in  every  branch  of  our  public  service  servants  worthy  of  our  work  and 


296  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


able  to  discharge  it.  Any  great  advance,  then,  in  the  progress  of  that  great 
movement  must  be  a  matter  of  no  little  interest  to  the  members  of  the  Mu- 
nicipal League,  and  those  who  sympathize  with  their  aims  and  purposes. 
For  this  reason  I  will  ask  a  veteran  civil  service  reformer — one  of  my  col- 
leagues for  many  years  on  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  National  Civil 
Service  Reform  League,  to  tell  us  what  we  ought  to  think  of  an  event, 
apparently  equally  important  and  gratifying,  announced  in  the  papers  of 
to-day.  I  will  ask  you  to  listen  to  General  Aiken,  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  on 
the  subject  of  "  President  Cleveland's  Extension  of  the  Rule." 

GEN.  WILLIAM  A.  AIKEN:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
The  last  time  I  was  in  this  hall  was  on  the  occasion  of  the  last  annual 
meeting  of  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform  League  which  took  place  in 
this  city  about  three  years  ago,  and  on  that  occasion  I  was  very  much  torn 
by  conflicting  emotions.  I  did  not  know  which  to  admire  most,  the  won- 
derful cuisine  of  the  good  landlord  of  the  Rennert  and  his  chef  who  as- 
sisted him  in  taking  such  care  of  us,  the  extraordinary  and  delicately-ex- 
pressed hospitality  of  our  hosts  of  Baltimore,  whose  genius  in  that  line  is 
known  the  country  over ;  the  great  felicity  of  the  chairman  of  the  evening, 
whom,  I  am  happy  to  say,  is  the  same  chairman  of  this  evening  (ap- 
plause), or  that  most  wonderful  of  all  the  after-dinner  speeches  ever  de- 
livered by  that  dear  friend  of  ours — now  gone — George  William  Curtis. 
(Great  applause).  There  are  some  here  who  heard  that,  and  those  of  us 
whose  good  fortune  it  has  been  to  have  heard  him  before  were  of  one  mind 
in  saying  that  his  last  was  indeed  his  best. 

And  so,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  must  be  excused  for  this  digression  in 
the  introduction  of  the  subject  which  has  been  given  to  me  because  the 
rush  of  associations  which  has  come  over  me  as  I  sat  here  has  really  taken 
out  of  my  mind  for  the  moment  the  consideration  of  the  question  it  has 
been  given  me  to  speak  about. 

I  am  not  here  among  you  to-night  as  the  representative  of  any  local 
militant  organization,  or  as  an  inhabitant  of  that  little  dot  on  the  map  of 
the  United  States  which  is  called  Connecticut  and  the  little  town  of  Norwich, 
in  which  there  is  no  organization — the  good  people  there  do  not  seem  to  think 
they  need  it,  but  I  won't  discuss  that  to-night — but  I  come  here  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform  League ;  and  I  cannot 
conceive  how  it  is  possible  for  any  one  who  is  interested  in  civil  service  re- 
form not  to  be  equally  interested  in  municipal  reform,  nor  can  I  conceive 
how  it  is  possible  for  any  municipal  reformer  to  be  other  than  heart  and  soul 
a  civil  service  reformer.  (Applause). 

It  seems  to  me  that  civil   service  reform    surrounds   and  underlies 


GEN.    WILLIAM    A.    AIKEN.  297 

municipal  reform,  and  that  you  have  got  to  take  away  the  temptation  to 
bribery  before  you  can  make  one  single  step  forward. 

Therefore,  it  seems  to  me,  that  every  one  interested  in  the  subject 
which  you  have  been  discussing  must  have  felt  that  same  thrill  which  went 
through  me  when  I  read  the  report  which  the  papers  brought  us  this  morn- 
ing, that  the  President  of  the  United  States,  by  one  stroke,  had  freed 
forever  from  the  shackles  of  the  spoil  system  nearly  30,000  offices.  (Ap- 
plause). Now,  I  care  not  by  what  party  name  we  are  known ;  we  may  be 
Republicans,  we  may  be  Democrats,  but  we  should  indeed  be  the  smallest 
and  meanest  of  men  if  we  were  to  withhold  the  tribute  of  our  warm 
admiration  for  so  grand  a  stroke  as  this.  I  think  that  even  the  most 
sanguine  and  hopeful  of  you  hardly  yet  measure  the  aid  which  this  is 
going  to  give  you  in  your  work  all  over  this  land.  (Applause). 

This  battle  is  yet  far  from  being  fought  out.  There  yet  remain  in  the 
national  government  the  fourth-class  post  offices,  which  are  the  very  citadel 
of  the  spoil  system.  But  they  will  not  remain  long  and  it  will  be  easier  to 
withdraw  them  from  the  spoil  system  in  view  of  what  has  already  been 
accomplished. 

Then  there  is  much  to  be  done  in  the  State  and  municipal  offices ;  but 
every  single  advance  in  the  national  service  such  as  that  which  has  been 
made  will  help  you,  so  far  forth,  in  your  local  advance  and  will  make  your 
task  far  more  easy  because  of  this. 

So,  Mr.  President,  am  I  violating  the  proprieties  of  this  occasion  when 
if  I  move  you  to-night,  that  the  President  of  this  Association  be  the  medium 
of  a  communication  which  shall  embody  the  thanks  of  this  League  for  the 
steps  which  have  already  been  taken  ?  (Applause).  If  not,  I  will  move 
that  the  appreciative  and  grateful  thanks  of  this  League  be  presented  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States  for  the  noble  step  which  he  has  taken  in 
extending  the  area  of  civil  service  reform  in  the  United  States.  (Applause). 

THE  TOASTMASTER  :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  You  have  heard  the 
motion.  We  will  not  too  closely  scrutinize  the  credentials  of  those  present 
as  members  of  the  League.  Any  one  can  vote  for  this  resolution  who 
thinks  that  he  is  a  member  of  the  League,  on  the  principle  that  equity 
regards  that  as  done  which  ought  to  be  done.  (Laughter  and  applause). 
All  negative  votes  will  be  considered  as  cast  by  those  not  entitled  to  vote. 
(Laughter  and  applause).  I  will  ask  all  in  favor  of  the  resolution  to  say 
aye. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted. 

THE  TOASTMASTER  :  I  had  expected  to  call  upon  a  gentleman  who, 
besides  other  and  less  distinctions,  one  of  them  being  the  president  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  is  First  Vice-President  of  the  Civil  Service  Re- 


298  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


form  Association.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  he  has  set  the  terrible  example 
of  going' home.  I  mention  the  fact  in  order  that  the  unqualified  expression 
of  my  disapproval  may  prevent  the  example  from  doing  any  greater  harm, 
as  it  must  otherwise  necessarily  have  done. 

Deprived,  therefore,  of  my  fellow-citizen,  I  must  ask  for  consolation 
from  our  guests,  and  I  will  request  my  friend,  Mr.  Hartwell,  to  administer 
that  consolation  which  we  all  need  as  an  offset  to  the  delays  and  disap- 
pointments met  with  in  our  work.  Mr.  Hartwell,  of  Louisville.  (Applause). 

MR.  FRANK  N.  HARTWELL  :  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 
In  revolving  in  my  mind  some  reason  for  the  assignment  to  me  upon  this 
occasion  of  a  response  to  a  toast  by  our  worthy  host  and  toastmaster,  I 
have  taken  refuge  behind  the  thought  that  there  is  a  common  impression 
abroad  in  the  land  that  if  a  man  hails  from  Kentucky  he  comes  armed  in 
one  hip  pocket  with  a  revolver  and  in  the  other  hip  pocket  with  a  speech. 
(Laughter  and  applause).  I  judge  that  our  worthy  host,  fearing  that  in  the 
event  that  he  did  not  afford  an  occasion  for  the  infliction  of  the  speech 
upon  the  audience,  that  the  revolver  might  be  used  upon  him,  deemed  it 
best  to  call  upon  me.  (Laughter).  I  have  concluded  that  in  all  frankness 
and  candor,  due  to  some  representative  Kentuckians,  to  state  that  in  this 
instance  I  have  come  unarmed  with  either.  (Laughter  and  applause). 

Having  presided  over  and  participated  in  many  banquets,  I  have,  or 
s  hould  have,  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  patience  of  such  an  assemblage, 
and  in  any  remarks  which  I  may  make,  or  in  any  consolation  which  I  may 
offer,  I  would  rather  offer  it  in  the  form  of  a  string  of  pearls  strung  upon 
a  chain  of  some  of  my  own  thoughts. 

I  will  be  frank  enough  to  state  to  you  that  there  was  sufficient  con- 
sideration manifested  on  the  part  of  the  chairman  to  say  that  he  asked  me  in 
due  process  of  time  upon  what  theme  I  would  like  to  orate,  and  having  had  a 
choice  of  that  selection  it  may  appear  a  contradiction  to  the  original  state- 
ment which  I  made,  that  I  had  come  unprepared  with  any  speech.  I  came 
to  Baltimore  out  of  my  intense  interest  in  the  work  undertaken  by  these 
heroic  men  and  women.  Having  presided,  during  the  past  week,  over  a 
conference  of  ministers,  I  felt  myself  quite  exhausted  and  requiring  some 
sort  of  rest  and  recreation,  and  I  sought  it  in  Baltimore.  (Laughter  and 
applause). 

What  I  wished  to  say  in  particular  was  this :  That  all  substantial 
growth  is  naturally  by  a  slow  process.  I  belong  to  that  class  of  men  who, 
having  put  their  hands  to  the  plow  and  encountered  the  stones  and  stumps 
in  the  field,  do  not  feel  inclined  to  turn  backward,  although  evidence  of  dis- 
gust may  manifest  itself  in  some  audible  expression  when  the  stones  and 
stumps  present  themselves  to  the  plowshare. 


FRANK    N.    HARTWFLL.  299 


When  we  learn  the  important  lesson  that  all  things  in  nature  operate 
upon  certain  well-defined  laws,  we  shall  have  learned  a  great  lesson. 
Whereas,  we  may  enjoy  that  delicacy  of  flavor  imparted  by  the  mushroom 
to  the  tenderloin  steak,  and  when  we  consider  that  mushroom  is  but  the 
growth  between  the  sunset  and  the  sunrise,  and  when  we  contrast  it  with 
the  lusciousness  of  the  peach,  which  has  absorbed  the  nectar  from  the 
sunlight  beaming  upon  it  during  its  weeks  of  slow  and  gradual  develop- 
ment, when  we  contrast  the  delicacy  and  deliciousness  of  the  asparagus, 
which  as  soon  as  it  presents  its  head  to  the  rising  sun  is  severed  from  its 
roots  below  the  surface,  with  the  towering  oak  from  whose  trunk  is  made 
the  mast  which  supports  the  sails  which  carry  the  commerce  of  this 
country  across  the  raging  main,  we  can  readily  distinguish  between  the 
rapidity  of  growth  and  development  in  the  one  case  of  the  mushroom  and 
asparagus,  and  in  the  other  case  of  the  peach  and  the  oak.  When  we 
consider  that  in  the  ideal  lies  the  charm  of  the  real,  when  we  remember 
that  the  theory  is  the  precursor  of  the  practice,  then  have  we  learned 
another  important  lesson.  When  we  consider  the  vast  period  of  time 
necessary  to  produce  this  mundane  sphere  upon  which  we  rest  and  in  whose 
rapid  revolutions  we  participate,  when  we  remember  that  from  those  vast 
regions  of  space,  the  stuff  from  which  the  stars  are  made  was  gradually 
condensed  into  a  central  sun,  casting  off  in  due  process  of  time  its  various 
belts  which  in  their  turn  became  condensed  into  planets  in  succession, 
until  we  had,  in  our  own  case  of  the  earth,  that  chaotic  mass,  incapable  of 
bearing  or  sustaining  life,  such  as  we  know  it  now,  then  are  we  prepared  to 
understand  that  that  which  is  substantial  and  real  requires  gradual  develop- 
ment and  a  great  time  for  its  growth  and  production.  Notwithstanding  the 
great  period  of  time  necessary  to  produce  this  earth,  in  eight  lines  some 
one  has  aptly  said — 

The  fire  mist  and  the  planet, 

The  crystal  and  the  steel, 

The  jelly  fish  and  the  saurian, 

And  the  cave  where  the  cave  men  dwell. 

Then  with  songs  of  love  and  beauty, 

And  the  face  upturned  from  the  clod, 

Some  call  it  evolution, 

And  others  call  it  God. 

When  men,  in  the  early  ages  of  our  time,  devoted  their  time  to  the 
contemplation  of  the  life  hereafter  and  overlooked  that  grand  panorama 
which  surrounds  us  on  all  hands  in  the  month  of  May  they  had  not  yet 
learned  from  nature  the  fact  that  upon  this  earth  and  at  this  time  is  the 


3OO  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


time  for  men's  action.  Men,  by  delving  in  the  soil,  by  searching  the  mys- 
teries of  space,  have  begun  to  appreciate  the  platform  upon  which  they  are 
placed.  When  we  recall  that  old  hymn,  "From  Greenland's  icy  moun- 
tains," and  get  down  to  the  words,  "Where  every  prospect  pleases  and 
only  man  is  vile,"  we  have  approximated  very  nearly,  Mr.  Chairman,  the 
point  which  is  occupied  by  that  band  of  missionaries  mentioned  by  your 
worthy  mayor. 

Man,  in  his  attempt  to  increase  the  opportunities  afforded  by  our  pres- 
ent civilization,  is  directing  his  energies  to  an  improvement  of  the  condi- 
tions which  surround  us  ;  and  the  encouraging  feature  which  presents  itself 
to  our  mind  for  reflection  is  the  thought  that  men,  busy  with  the  cares  of  office  ; 
men,  busy  with  their  professional  duties,  are  willing  to  give  that  sacrifice, 
that  portion  of  time  necessary  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  commonwealth 
and  of  the  municipality. 

It  requires  sacrifice;  it  requires  patience;  but  we  can  have  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing,  if  not  in  our  own  time  and  in  our  own  day,  in  the 
generations  which  are  to  succeed  us,  that  our  efforts  will  not  have  been  in 
vain  when  we  stop  to  consider  the  sacrifice  which  has  been  made  in  all 
times  along  the  journey  of  life ;  when  we  think — 
"  Of  the  picket  frozen  on  duty, 

The  mother  standing  for  her  brood, 
Socrates  drinking  the  hemlock, 

And  Jesus  on  the  rood  ; 
And  on  the  millions  who,  humble,  nameless, 

The  straight  hard  pathway  have  trod, 
Some  call  it  consecration, 

And  others  call  it  God."     (Applause). 

THE  TOASTMASTER  :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  We  will  now  hear  from 
another  part  of  the  country  as  to  "  The  Vital  Facts  Connected  with 
Municipal  Reform  in  our  North-west,"  and  I  shall  ask  Mr.  Butler,  of  Mil- 
waukee, to  tell  us  about  that. 

MR.  JOHN  A.  BUTLER  :  I  am  not  responsible  for  the  risk  which  the 
toastmaster  assumed  in  calling  upon  a  gentleman  so  unfitted  for  extempora- 
neous speaking  as  myself.  I  am  responsible,  however,  for  the  seriously- 
worded  toast  to  which  I  am  to  respond ;  but  I  hasten  to  inform  you  that  it 
is  serious  mainly  in  its  form.  I  have  not  the  temerity  to  do  much  talking 
in  an  assembly  which  is  taking  a  well-earned  rest  from  able  discussion  and 
debate.  There  are  those  here,  however,  so  gracious,  so  vivid,  so  full  of  the 
wine  of  happy  thought,  that  it  would  be  more  than  presumptuous  for  me  to 
endeavor  to  entertain  you  after  all  that  has  been  laid  before  you.  I  shall, 


JOHN    A.    BUTLER.  30! 


therefore,  endeavor  to  follow  the  path  of  caution  and  discretion,  laying 
before  you  briefly  two  or  three  points,  upon  which  you  will  do  your  own 
thinking  later  on,  or  not,  according  to  your  pleasure. 

In  our  experience  in  the  North-west,  to  which  Mr.  Bonaparte  has  been 
kind  enough  to  refer  especially,  there  have  been  two  or  three  things  .which 
I  am  very  glad  to  mention.  The  first  of  them  is  the  attitude  of  the  pro- 
fessional partisan  towards  the  reform  movement,  and  I  cannot  do  better  in 
trying  to  speak  of  that  than  to  refer  to  the  speech  of  a  brilliant  and  elo- 
quent lawyer  in  Milwaukee,  a  very  strong  partisan  indeed,  upon  whom  the 
light  of  municipal  reform  is  at  last  breaking,  when  he  portrayed  the  whole 
movement  in  a  certain  manner  more  vividly  than  I  could  hope  to  do,  by 
the  following  illustration :  On  a  certain  occasion,  in  a  meeting  which  we 
held  in  Milwaukee,  he  said :  "  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  am  a  partisan ; 
I  love  my  party ;  I  love  my  party  almost  as  well  as  I  love  my  country ; 
when  it  comes  to  a  great  national  contest  I  feel  my  bosom  swell  with  pride 
when  I  see  the  party  marching  off  in  that  great  national  campaign  in  be- 
half of  principle ;  looking  at  the  vast  army  going  to  the  field  of  battle  with 
the  glitter  of  its  uniforms  and  with  the  blare  of  trumpets  and  the  prancing 
of  steeds ;  but,  gentlemen,  when  that  battle  is  over  and  that  army  wheels 
about  and  comes  down  upon  the  cities  of  my  native  land,  with  the  beggars, 
vagabonds,  sutlers  and  camp  followers  in  the  lead,  marching  upon  the 
cities  of  this  country,  my  heart  breaks  within  me.  Those  men  who  are  in 
the  rear  are  in  the  command  of  the  cities  of  the  United  States/' 

And  that  leads  me  to  the  second  point.  We  are  encouraged  by  the 
fact  that  the  mere  party  man  sees  in  the  non-partisan  movement  so  impor- 
tant an  advance.  The  second  fact  is  vital  in  the  North-west,  at  least  in  the 
cities,  that  the  cities  of  the  United  States  are  the  formative  schools  in 
politics  for  the  young  men  of  this  country — the  brothers,  the  sons, 
the  husbands  and  the  lovers  of  the  women  of  this  country — where  those 
men  are  formed,  politically,  to  carry  out  their  duties  as  citizens  in  the  nation 
itself.  Those  cities  are  the  vital,  arterial  centres  in  the  body  politic.  The 
municipal  question  is  a  greater  question  than  the  question  of  slavery.  That 
concerned  at  most  at  that  time  only  one-half  of  the  States,  but  this  ques- 
tion comes  close  to  every  fireside  in  the  land  and  touches  the  character  of 
every  human  being  in  the  United  States.  (Applause). 

The  hour  is  so  late  that,  although  I  am  tempted  to  go  on,  there 
is  only  one  minor  matter  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  calling  your  attention 
to,  and  my  attention  was  called  to  it  largely  by  some  of  the  previous 
speakers. 

I  have  heard  it  often  said  that  the  only  way  to  get  good  government 
is  to  get  good  men ;  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  get  anywhere  so  far, 


3O2  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


what  to  my  humble  judgment  was  an  adequate  answer,  as  to  the  method 
by  which  those  good  men  could  be  had.  Now  in  the  city  of  Milwaukee 
we  have  had  this  experience,  that,  because  in  the  administrative  and  exec- 
utive committees  of  the  Common  Council — referring  just  to  that  branch 
of  the  city  government — there  were  so  many  opportunities  for  the  dema- 
gogue of  the  ward,  and  of  the  city  generally,  to  make  money  that  it  has 
been  not  only  very  difficult  to  keep  the  demagogue  out,  but  because  good 
men  would  pay  nothing  it  has  been  almost  absolutely  impossible  to  get  a  good 
man  in.  It,  therefore,  occurred  to  us  in  that  city  that  one  of  the  best  possi- 
ble ways  to  get  bad  men  out  and  good  men  in  was  to  make  it  unprofitable 
for  bad  men  to  be  there  ;  and  when  the  profit  should  be  taken  out  of  it,  if  it 
could  be  taken  out  of  the  Common  Councils  of  our  city,  we  felt  perfectly 
certain  that  you  could  not  drive  a  demagogue  in  with  forty  thousand  lashes. 
(Applause).  This  state  of  things  exists  in  our  cities.  The  men  who  ought 
to  be  responsible  are  not  responsible.  The  men  who  ought  to  be  executive 
officers  are  not  executive  officers,  and  the  men  who  ought  not  to  be  execu- 
tive officers  and  administrative  officers  are  such.  Responsibility  is  scat- 
tered almost  all  over  the  city  government,  and  one  of  our  efforts,  I  do  not 
know  how  it  will  impress  you  here,  but  one  of  our  efforts  in  the  city  of  Mil- 
waukee will  be  to  take  away  these  executive  and  administrative  powers 
from  the  committees  of  the  City  Council,  which  lead  to  scandal  in  them, 
and  place  them  in  the  hands  of  the  mayor  and  his  department  chiefs.  (Ap- 
plause). 

In  other  words,  we  mean  to  deal  at  arm's  length  with  our  representa- 
tives. We  think  in  that  case,  that  the  Common  Council,  deprived  of  the 
opportunity  of  stealing,  will  become  a  place  of  honor,  attractive  to  the 
gentleman,  (applause)  to  the  man  worthy  of  respect,  the  man  of  integrity 
in  our  city.  They  will  have  no  longer  the  excuse  that  they  are  not  any- 
thing more  than  a  drx>p  of  fresh  water  in  a  pail  of  brine.  Then  they  can 
go  in  and  be  useful.  (Applause).  I  don't  see  but  that  that  position  is 
almost  impregnable ;  and  I  think  in  the  course  of  the  next  year,  through 
the  next  legislature,  we  will  get  a  law  to  bring  that  about. 

I  am  almost  tempted  to  go  on,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  temptation  I 
propose  to  resist  it  promptly  on  the  spot  and  stop  and  thank  you  for  your 
courtesy  in  listening  to  me  at  all  at  this  late  hour  of  the  evening. 

THE  TOASTMASTER  :  I  am  sure  that  we  are  all  tempted  to  agree  with 
our  friend,  Mr.  Butler,  as  to  everything  he  has  said,  and  also  to  his  state- 
ment that  the  hour  is  late ;  but  notwithstanding  its  lateness,  however,  I  will 
call  upon  my  friend,  Mr.  Woodruff,  to  tell  you  some  of  those  things  which 
municipal  reformers  must  remember  between  times.  After  you  have  heard 
him  we  will  adjourn  until  9.30  A.  M.  to-day.  (Laughter  and  applause). 


CLINTON    ROGERS   WOODRUFF. 


303 


MR.  CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF  :  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gen- 
tlemen :  As  you  have  not  assigned  to  me  any  particular  toast  I  shall  take 
the  inalienable  liberty  which  belongs  to  every  American  citizen  and  make 
my  own  toast,  and  I  therefore  suggest  for  the  closing  theme  of  this  most 
delightful  occasion  "  The  New  Citizen." 

I  do  not  mean  by  the  new  citizen  necessarily  the  new  woman.  A 
friend  of  mine  said  to  another  friend.  "  Is  your  wife  quite  as  strong  on  the 
question  of  the  new  woman  as  she  once  was  ?  "  The  reply  was,  "  No,  not 
since  the  new  baby  has  come  around."  (Laughter).  The  new  citizen  may 
not  be  the  ideal  citizen,  although  he  will  approach  him ;  for  I  regret  to  say 
since  the  death  of  the  father  of  his  country  there  is  a  tendency  to  regard 
the  ideal  citizen  as  a  personage  of  the  past.  It  is  very  much  like  a  con- 
vention I  heard  of  some  time  ago,  where  the  speaker  said,  "  Does  any  one 
know  of  the  ideal  man  ?  "  There  was  no  reply.  "  Does  any  one  know  of 
the  ideal  woman  ? "  From  the  far  corner  of  the  room,  a  meek  and  patient 
looking  woman  arose  and  said,  "  I  do,  but  she's  dead  ;  she  was  my  hus- 
band's first  wife."  (Laughter  and  applause). 

Mr.  Chairman,  as  I  conceive  it,  the  new  citizen  will  love  his  country  ; 
will  love  it  as  the  mother  loves  her  babe,  not  for  what  it  is  but  for  what  it 
may  be.  So  the  new  citizen  will  love  his  country  not,  forsooth,  for  what  it 
is  but  because  of  what  it  may  be.  The  new  citizen  will  realize  that  the 
highest  duties  of  the  citizen  are  not  the  discharge  of  the  dramatic  duties, 
which  require  that  he  shall  lay  his  life  upon  the  altar  of  liberty ;  but  he 
will  discharge  every  duty,  even  though  it  require  the  discharge  in  silence 
and  in  the  closet  like  secret  prayer. 

Neither  will  the  new  citizen  be  like  Simon  Stylites,  who  spent  his  life  on 
the  top  of  a  pillar  criticising  there  his  brother-man  ;  nor  yet  the  reformer, 
who  retires  to  his  fireside  and  there  descants  upon  the  iniquities  of  the  pres- 
ent state  of  government.  Rather  he  will  mingle  among  his  fellowmen,  and 
by  his  own  character  and  activity  set  an  example  of  what  a  good  citizen 
should  do. 

I  am  often  reminded  when  I  speak  on  occasions  of  this  kind  of  those 
words  of  Mazzini,  spoken  by  him  fifty  years  ago,  that,  while  the  privileges 
of  our  citizenship  are  great,  the  duties  of  the  citizen  are  still  greater ;  and 
that  he  is  the  truest  and  best  citizen  who  discharges  the  duties  at  the  same 
time  that  he  claims  the  privileges  of  citizenship. 

Neither  will  the  new  citizen  be  a  political  sportsman.  I  was  interested 
a  few  weeks  ago  in  receiving  a  letter  from  a  far  Western  correspondent,  in 
which  he  said :  "  We  have  in  this  community  a  genus  known  as  the  politi- 
cal sportsman,  a  man  who  will,  from  time  to  time,  espouse  the  cause  of 


3O4  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


good  government  for  the  reason  that  it  gives  him  a  certain  amount  of 
amusement  and  not  because  he  believes  in  good  government,  nor  because 
he  is  an  advocate  of  pure  politics ;  but  because  it  gives  him  something  to 
occupy  his  time."  The  new  citizen's  interest  in  politics  will  be  deep  and 
abiding,  and  the  result  of  a  profound  conviction. 

I  believe  that  the  new  citizen  will  advocate  good  government,  even 
though,  perhaps,  it  may  touch  his  pocketbook.  A  Baptist  minister,  who 
recently  came  to  Philadelphia,  tells  a  story  which  will  illustrate  my  point. 
While  sojourning  for  a  time  in  Virginia  he  asked  whether  the  folks  had  had 
any  preaching  recently.  The  neighbors  told  him  they  had  not  been  so 
blessed  for  some  time  past.  He  asked  them  if  they  thought  that  he  could 
preach  to  the  neighbors  next  Sunday  afternoon  at  three  o'clock.  His  host 
said :  "I  have  no  doubt  we  will  be  able  to  get  a  congregation  for  you."  So 
his  host  bestirred  himself  and  reported  that  he  thought  there  would  be  a 
good  congregation  for  Sunday  afternoon.  Sunday  afternoon  came  and  his 
host  said :  "  Well,  parson,  we  are  going  to  have  a  fine  congregation  for 
you.  It  has  been  very  difficult  to  get  it  together,  but  I  think  it  will  be  a 
representative  gathering,  and  if  you  have  no  objection  I  wish  you  would 
announce  at  the  beginning  of  your  sermon,  which  will  take  place,  as  I 
understand,  at  three  o'clock,  that  at  four  o'clock,  upon  the  adjournment  of 
the  sermon,  there  will  be  a  cock  fight."  (Laughter). 

Now  that  Virginian  was  very  willing  to  have  the  preaching  so  long  as 
it  did  not  interfere  with  his  cock  fight.  And  I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  that 
a  great  many  reformers  are  willing  to  have  reforms  so  long  as  they  do  not 
interfere  with  their  pocketbooks.  So,  I  believe,  that  the  new  citizen  will  be 
in  favor  of  reform,  whether  it  touches  his  own  pocketbook  or  not.  He  will 
be  interested  in  reform  and  everything  that  tends  towards  the  purity  of 
government  even  though  it  may  mean  decreased  dividends  and,  therefore, 
decreased  income. 

I  believe  that  the  new  citizen  will  be  a  reformer  irrespective  of  the 
badge  that  he  wears.  At  the  present  time,  I  very  much  regret  to  say,  as 
the  result  of  some  limited  experience,  that  every  man  who  wears  a  reform 
button  is  not  necessarily  a  reformer  any  more  than  every  man  who  wears 
a  band  on  his  hat  is  necessarily  a  musician.  (Laughter). 

Some  reformers  believe,  I  am  led  to  understand,  that  reform  consists 
in  praising  our  own  country,  our  own  State,  our  own  community.  I  recall 
that  story  that  is  told  in  that  admirable  book  on  American  Political  Ideas, 
by  John  Fiske.  On  a  Fourth  of  July  in  the  city  of  Paris  there  was  a 
dinner  of  Americans  and  one  patriotic  American  called  upon  for  a  toast 
said,  "  Mr.  Chairman,  I  desire  to  propose  the  toast  of  the  United  States, 


CLINTON    ROGERS   WOODRUFF.  305 

bounded  on  the  north  by  British  Columbia ;  on  the  south  by  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico ;  on  the  east  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  on  the  west  by  the  Pacific 
Ocean."  Another  American  not  to  be  outdone,  arose  and  said,  "  Mr.  Chair- 
man, I  think  my  friend  from  my  native  land  has  been  entirely  too  modest ; 
I  propose  the  toast  of  the  United  States,  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
north  pole  ;  on  the  south  by  the  south  pole ;  on  the  east  by  the  rising  sun 
and  on  the  west  by  the  setting  sun."  (Laughter). 

That  was  not  sufficient.  Another  American  at  once  sprang  to  his  feet, 
and  said :  "  Mr.  Chairman,  I,  too,  propose  the  toast  of  the  United  States, 
but  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  aurora  borealis,  on  the  south  by  the  pre- 
cession of  the  equinoxes,  on  the  east  by  the  primeval  chaos  and  on  the 
west  by  the  day  of  judgment."  (Laughter).  That  is  an  old  story,  I  know, 
but  it  is  illustrative  of  current-day  patriotism,  which,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
largely  consists  in  wringing  the  lion's  tail,  and  saying,  with  Captain  Hull 
in  1812,  "My  country,  right  or  wrong." 

My  country,  I  hope,  will  always  be  right,  but,  as  I  said  a  few  moments 
ago,  I  love  my  country,  not  for  what  it  is  but  for  what  it  may  be.  I  love 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  not  for  what  it  is  but  for  what  it  may  be.  And  I 
hope,  as  a  result  of  these  Conferences  of  the  National  Municipal  League, 
there  will  come  a  day  when  the  American  municipal  government  will  not 
be  considered,  as  it  is  by  home  and  foreign  observers,  a  failure,  but  will  be 
considered  as  the  model  upon  which  all  other  cities  of  every  other  country 
will  model  their  government. 

And  I  believe,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  new  citizen  will  be  trustworthy 
because  of  the  trust  reposed  in  him.  The  best  results  will  be  obtained 
where  most  trust  is  reposed.  A  hundred  years  ago  there  was  a  feeling 
prevalent  in  this  country  that  no  one  man  should  be  given  any  great 
amount  of  power,  and  there  was  a  transfer  of  power  to  boards  and  coun- 
cils. It  has  taken  us  one  hundred  years  to  learn  that  that  government  is 
the  best  which  concentrates  power  and  authority  in  a  single  person.  So  we 
see  all  over  the  United  States  a  movement  away  from  the  idea  of  giving 
power  to  councils,  away  from  the  idea  of  giving  power  to  commissions,  con- 
sisting of  from  three  to  five  or  seven  men  to  that  idea,  as  in  Philadelphia 
and  in  Cleveland  and,  as  I  understand,  in  a  great  many  other  cities  where 
the  power  and  responsibility  is  lodged  in  a  single  executive  head. 

I  have  confidence  in  the  outcome  of  our  present  effort  to  improve  the 
municipal  condition  of  our  American  city.  As  I  said  in  my  report  yester- 
day, I  am  convinced  that  the  American  people  can  meet  every  problem 
which  may  be  presented  to  a  nation.  In  1776  the  English  Govern- 
ment asserted  the  right  to  tax  without  representation.  We  undertook  to 
solve  that  problem  and  did  so.  We  have  faced  every  problem  since 


306  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


that  time  and  solved  it,  and  I  believe  we  will  face  the  problem  of  municipal 
government  and  solve  it  successfully,  and  solve  it  for  all  time.  It  may 
involve  the  destruction  of  some  of  our  ideals.  It  may  involve,  almost,  the 
destruction  of  some  of  our  cities ;  but  out  of  it  all  will  come  a  new  era  that 
will  receive  the  commendation  of  all. 

I  cannot  better  express  my  hope  and  confidence  than  in  these  words 
of  Browning: 

"  I  found  the  earth  not  gray  but  rosy  ; 
Heaven  not  grim  but  fair  of  hue. 
Do  I  stoop.  I  pluck  a  posy  ; 

Do  I  stand  and  stare,  all's  blue." 

I  thank  you  for  your  attention  and  bid  you  good  night  and  God  speed. 
(Applause). 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 
Adams,  Charles  F  .......................    107 

Aiken,  Gen.  Wm.  A  ...............  296-297 

Albany,  Municipal  Con-  )  24,  25,  137- 

dition  of.  .....................  J     145,  234 

Ailing,  Joseph  T  ........................  20,  21 

Amendment  to  By-Laws  ...............    36 

Annual  Address  of  President...  3,  41-61 
Appendix  .....................................    39 

Arundel  Club,  Baltimore  ..............      1 

Atlanta,   Municipal    Con-  )  .,«   ofi-101 

dition  of.  .......................  J       ' 

Baltimore  .........  41,  57,  67,  236-237,  282 

Baltimore,  Recent  Revolt  in....  2,  75-87 

Baltimore  Reform  League  .....  79,  82,  84 

Banquet  Speeches  ...................  282-306 

Blandin,  Hon.  E.  J  ...................  36,  37 

l,     3,    22, 


Bonaparte,  Charles  J  ....... 

282-285 

Boston  Municipal  League...  64,  247-251 
Brans,  H.  Dickson  .....................    35 

Bullitt  Bill  of  Philadelphia  ..........  108 

Burnham,  George,  Jr  ........  9,  11,  34,  35 

Tf    +1          T^r,    A  I  23»   25'   26>  27'  252~ 

Butler,  John  A  .....  j       ^i,  300-302 

By-Laws,  Amendments  to  .............    36 

(23,  25,  26, 
Capen,  Samuel  B  ..............  \     34,     35, 

I     247-251 

(2,    3,    34, 

Carter,  James  C  ................  \    35,  41-61, 

(    285-288 
Chicago  .............................  48,  68,  236 

Chicago,   Since    the    Adoption    of 
Civil  Service  Reform  .........  2,  162-191 

Christian  Citizenship  Union..24,  275-281 
Citizens'  League  of  New  Orleans..20,  68 
(2,81-83,106, 
Civil  Service  Reform  ......  {     162-191, 

(     293-295 
Civil  Service  Reform  League  .....  23,  296 

Cleveland  Conference  .......  33,  70,  71,  286 

Commons,  J.  R  ............................  228 

Conkling,  Hon.  Alfred  R  ..............    21 

(23,  32,  142- 
Councils,  Reform  of.  ......  \     143,    236- 

(     246 

Corporations  and  Munic-  )  . 
ipalities  .......................  }  4> 

Crocker,  A.  L 

Curtis,  George  William  ...............    87 

Dartmouth  College  Case  ...............  220 

Dasher,  Col.  Arthur  ............  19,  117-126 

Davis,  A.  H  .........................  19,  96-101 

Democratic      League     for     Good 
Government  ..............................    94 


35 


PAGE. 

Denison,  George  A 24,  25, 127-136 

Dohrmann,  F.  W 22 

Election  of  Officers 34-37 

Erskine,  William 16 

Examinations,  Chicago  Civil  j   ^R  101 

Service ...... j   176-191 

Executive  Committee 18 

Fox,  George  L 25,26 

Franchises,  Municipal....  4-18, 198-225 

Freud,  J.  R 22 

Galveston,  Texas 52,  67,  68 

Georgia,  Municipal  Re-  I    iq    117  12fi 

form  in }    iy«  1] 

Gorman-Rasin  Ring 75,  81 

Gregory,  John  M 13-16 

Guthrie,  George  W 18, 146-161 

Hale,  Matthew 35 

Hartwell,  Frank  N j  19'  jj^gfo  35> 

Holls,    Hon.    Frederick  1 23,    226-235, 

William J      293-295 

Hooper,  Mayor  Alcaeus 67,  289-293 

Howard,  Charles  Morris 2,  75-87 

Illinois  Civil  Service  Law 173 

James,  Dr.  E.  J 35 

James,  Dr.  Lewis  S 26 

Janvier,  Charles 20, 36 

Johnson,  Thomas  L 2, 192-197 

Lawson,  Rev.  A.  G 19  24,  275-281 

Legislative    Chambers,     One     or 

Two 23-32,247-262 

Legislators'  Salaries 25,  263-266 

Lindsley,  A.  V.  S 19,  102-109 

Local  Government  Boards 226-235 

Loomis,  Frank  M 4,  5,  10,  207-215 

London 229,  255,  261 

Louisville 29-31 

Louisville  Board  of  Trade 19,  20 

Low,  William  G 35 

Lowell,  James  Russell 87 

Maguire,  P.  J 4 

Malone,  James  H 19,  110-116 

Memphis,     Municipal     Condition 

of. 19,  110-116,  286 

Merchants'  Association,  San  Fran- 
cisco      22 

Miller,  Joseph  A 35 

Minutes  <>f  Second  Annual  Meeting    33 

Milwaukee 68,  256,  257 

Minneapolis  Conference 71 

Morton,  Governor 65 

Municipal     Business,     Excluding 

Politics  from 24,  267-274 

Municipal  Control,  State   Boards 

of. 23,226-233 

Municipalities    and    Cor- )  , 
porations J  4' 


(307) 


308 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Municipal  League  of  Boston 65 

Municipal    League   of    Philadel- 
phia  66,  67 

Municipal  League  of  I  1ft     9q     1fin_1fl1 

Pitteburg )  18»    **'    l 

Municipal  Ownership 4-18,  198-215 

Municipal     Reform     in)   1Q     117  19R 

Georgia  |  19'    117~1^ 

Municipal  Reform,  A  Year's  Work 

for 2,  62-74 

Municipal  Voters'  League  of  Chi- 
cago  68,  171 

Nashville,    Municipal    Condition 

of. 19,  102-109,  286 

National  Municipal  >     AA    CQ    -ft    -, 

League }     ***  by'  7U'  71 

Negro  Vote 123-125 

New  Haven 26-28 

Newman,  Dr.  S.  M 36,  37 

New  Orleans 20,  52,  67,  68 

Newton,  Virginius 19,  88-95 

New  York 49-52,  65,  236 

Nominations 34 

Ochs,  Hon.  George  W 35,  68 

Ohio  Chamber  of  Com- 1  2  ge  192-197 

merce j    '     ' 

Officers,  Election  of. 34-37 

Pingree,  Hazen  S 4,  68,  216-218 

Philadelphia {*&$&>,  $' 

Philadelphia  Conference 44,  62,  71 

Pitteburg 29 

Pittsburg,  Municipal  Condition 

of. 18,146-161 

Politics  and  Municipal  {  0.  0<37  07^ 

Business }  M'  ^>7^/4 

Portland,  Ore 24 

President's  Address 3,  41-61 

Proportional  Representation...  241-246 

Pryor,  James  W 25,  263-266 

Public  Franchises 4-18,  216-218 

Quincy.  Mayor 64,65,247 

Recent  Revolt  in  Baltimore....  2,  75-87 
Resolutions 31,  297 


PAGE. 

(4,  5,  8,  10-11,  14, 
Richardson,  Chariest      15,  31,  33,  34, 

(     35,  198-206 
Richmond,    Municipal    Condition 

of.  ............................  19,88-95,255 

Rochester  ................  ...........  20,  21,  70 

Roeder   Rev.  Adolph  ....................    17 

Rowe,  Dr.  Leo  S  .........................  S,  11 

Rumsey,  C.  E  ..........................  28,  29 

Salaries,     Municipal     Legislators 

and  ................................  25,  263-266 

Salter,  William  M  .............  4,7,219-225 

San  Francisco  ............................  22,  69 

Schnrz.  Carl  ................................    87 

Siddons,  F.  L  ............................  34,36 

Smith,  Z.  T  .................................     19 

Spencer,  Walker  B  .....................  20,  30 

Springfield,  Municipal  Condition 

of.  .............................  24,  25,  127-l.V, 

Starr,  Merritt  .......................  2,  162-191 

State  Boards  of  Municipal    Con- 

trol ...............................  23,  226-235 

Street   Cleaning    in  )      .^K-,    9fir  „-. 

New  York  J  '  •")'~~'4 

Street  Railways.".'...  ........  4-18,  198-206 

Strong,  Mayor  .....................  50,  51,  268 

Strong,  Thomas  N  ......................  34,  35 

Tacoma  .......................................    69 

Tammany  Hall  ........................  49,  272 

Tennessee  Bar  Association  ............  116 

Thacher,  Hon.  John  )  24,    25,    137-145. 

Boyd  ...................  J  256 

Tibbitts,  Dudley  ...........................    35 

Treasurer,  Report  of.  ....................    34 

Wallis,  S.  Teackle  ........................    87 


......         24'  51'  267~274 

Washington  .................................     15 

Welsh,  Herbert  ............................    35 

Williams,  Henry  W  ...........  23,  236-246 


Woodruff,  Clinton  Rogers., 
Youngstown,  Ohio 192 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


REC'D  LD-VRL 

IttABLE 


DtC  1 1  2 


001 


NONrRENEWABLE 


MAY  2  2  2003 


DUE  2  WKS  FROM  D/  TE  RECEIVED 

v  JULA 


A    001  197931     7 


Univ 
S< 


